Evaluation of the Frequency of polymorphism rs1815739 (ACTN3) and rs8192678 (PPARGC1A) among professional male soccer players of Iranian Premier League: case-control study

Soccer is a complicated team sport in which performance, depends on physiological capabilities. Determining and addressing influential genetic factors can help an effective selecting process and guiding talented athletes and personalizing their exercises. This study aims to assess the potential importance of polymorphism of ACTN3, MCT1, PPARGC1A, ACSL1 and PPARA genes in professional soccer players in Iranian Pro League.

In this research, 30 professional players of a soccer team in Iranian Pro League were studied. The control group includes 100 non-athlete men whose genomic DNA were extracted from their saliva. Genotype detection using PCR-RFLP method was conducted to identifying polymorphism in ACTM3, PPARGC1A, genes. Frequency of these two polymorphisms among soccer players and control group was determined by statistical test Chi Squared (χ2).

Our statistical analysis show a significant difference in XX genotypic frequency in ACTN3 gene polymorphism between soccer players and control group (P = 0.022). Whereas, RR genotypic frequency show no significance difference between soccer players and control group (P = 0.058). Also, it was found that GG genotypic frequency in PPARGC1A gene polymorphism is statistically significant (P = 0.023). (In all genotypes P > 0.05).

The results showed that the rs8192678 polymorphism of PPARGC1A gene, can probably be a genetic marker for detecting and discovering talented people in the Iranian populations. In addition, regarding to the literatures, polymorph of ACTN3, individually or in combination, can be considered as a marker gene in soccer.