Importance of mitochondrial haplotypes and maternal lineage in sprint performance among individuals of West African ancestry

M. Deason, R. Scott, L. Irwin, V. Macaulay, N. Fuku, M. Tanaka, R. Irving, V. Charlton, E. Morrison, K. Austin, Y. P. Pitsiladis*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    20 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited solely along the matriline, giving insight into both ancestry and prehistory. Individuals of sub-Saharan ancestry are overrepresented in sprint athletics, suggesting a genetic advantage. The purpose of this study was to compare the mtDNA haplogroup data of elite groups of Jamaican and African-American sprinters against respective controls to assess any differences in maternal lineage. The first hypervariable region of mtDNA was haplogrouped in elite Jamaican athletes (N=107) and Jamaican controls (N=293), and elite African-American athletes (N=119) and African-American controls (N=1148). Exact tests of total population differentiation were performed on total haplogroup frequencies. The frequency of non-sub-Saharan haplogroups in Jamaican athletes and Jamaican controls was similar (1.87% and 1.71%, respectively) and lower than that of African-American athletes and African-American controls (21.01% and 8.19%, respectively). There was no significant difference in total haplogroup frequencies between Jamaican athletes and Jamaican controls (P=0.551 ± 0.005); however, there was a highly significant difference between African-American athletes and African-American controls (P<0.001). The finding of statistically similar mtDNA haplogroup distributions in Jamaican athletes and Jamaican controls suggests that elite Jamaican sprinters are derived from the same source population and there is neither population stratification nor isolation for sprint performance. The significant difference between African-American sprinters and African-American controls suggests that the maternal admixture may play a role in sprint performance.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)217-223
    Number of pages7
    JournalScandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
    Volume22
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2012

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
    • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Case-control study
    • Elite athletes
    • MtDNA haplogroups
    • Sprint athlete status

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