Association Between Gene ACTN3 and Basketball Position in Elite Athletes of Brazilian League

1597 Board #1 May 28, 1

00 PM - 3

00 PM

PURPOSE: α-actinins are important structural components of sarcomeric Z line in the muscle. The α-actinin isoform 3 is expressed only in type II muscle fibers, fast fibers, being encoded by the gene ACTN3. A polymorphism C to T transition has been identified at nucleotide 1747 of exon 16 of the gene, resulting in a conversion of arginine to a stop codon at residue 577 (R577X). The RR genotype is associated with activities that require strength and speed. On the other hand, the XX genotype has been observed with high frequency in elite athletes of endurance sports. Aim: To analyse whether there is an association between the ACTN3 gene polymorphism and the different positions of the basketball players, according to the specific characteristics of each position.

METHODS: The study involved 130 elite athletes of Brazilian Basketball League. Basketball positions were grouped in: guard (1), forward (2) and center (3); and analysed according to genotype. High quality DNA was collected from mouth swab and extracted by the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen).The analyses were performed by using the allelic discrimination method by RealTime PCR with the Type Taqman SNP genotyping assays® (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). A multivariable version of Correspondence, Optimal Scaling was performed using SPSS (version 21) to analyse and spatially represent the association between ranges of genes and basketball positions.

RESULTS: It was found a high association between RR genotype with power forward and center positions. Moreover, genotype RX was highly associated with shooting guard and small forward positions. Suggestive association was verified between RX and XX genotype with point guard position. The value of Cronbach´s alpha of the present model was 0.84.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that RR genotype is related to muscle explosive power and links perfectly with the position requirements. Furthermore, RX genotype are associated with both straight and resistance, skills that are essential for shooting guard and small forward positions. Finally, point guard position is not well defined due the power characteristics of this sport.