Study identifies gene that promotes muscle strength during exercise

A gene that switches on during physical activity and encourages muscle growth was discovered in a recent study, offering new insights into therapeutic treatments to improve muscle function.

The study was published in the journal, Cell Metabolism, and led by researchers at the University of Melbourne, in Melbourne, Australia. Researchers set out to discover how individuals responded to different forms of exercise in their muscles at the molecular level. To do so, researchers analyzed proteins and how they changed within cells during different types of exercise in human muscle biopsies, identifying molecular similarities and differences.

“To identify how genes and proteins are activated during and after different exercises, we performed an analysis of human skeletal muscle from a cross-over intervention of endurance, sprint, and resistance exercise,” Benjamin Parker, PhD, senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne said in a statement.

Through this analysis, researchers discovered a new gene known as C18ORF25, which they found to be activated during all types of exercise and associated with the promotion of muscle strength.

“Identifying this gene may impact how we manage healthy aging, diseases of muscle atrophy, sports science and even livestock, and meat production,” Parker said. “This is because promoting optimal muscle function is one of the best predictors of overall health.”