Physiol Genomics. 2016 Mar;48(3):183-90. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00105.2015. Epub 2015 Dec 29.

Athlome Project Consortium: a concerted effort to discover genomic and other "omic" markers of athletic performance.

Pitsiladis YP¹, Tanaka M², Eynon N³, Bouchard C⁴, North KN⁵, Williams AG⁶, Collins M⁷, Moran CN⁸, Britton SL⁹, Fuku N¹⁰, Ashley EA¹¹, Klissouras V¹², Lucia A¹³, Ahmetov II¹⁴, de Geus E¹⁵, Alsayrafi M¹⁶; Athlome Project Consortium.

Collaborators (155)

Pitsiladis YP, Eynon N, Bouchard C, North KN, Williams AG, Collins M, Moran CN, Britton SL, Fuku N, de Geus E, Klissouras V, Ashley EA, Lucia A, Ahmetov II, Alsayrafi M, Tanaka M, Pitsiladis YP, Webborn N, Wang G, Eynon N, Bishop DJ, Papadimitriou I, Yan X, Tirosh O, Kuang J, Bouchard C, Rankinen T, Sarzinsky M, Ashley EA, Mattsson C, Wheeler M, Waggott D, Byrne NM, Artioli GG, Collins M, Posthumus M, van der Merwe W, Cieszczyk P, Leonska-Duniec A, Ficek K, Maciejewska-Karlowska A, Sawczuk M, Stepien-Slodkowska M, Feller J, Dijkstra P, Chmutov AM, Dyatlov DA, Orekhov EF, Pushkareva YE, Shvedkaya IA, Massidda M, Calò CM, Williams AG, Day SH, Stebbings GK, Erskine RM, Montgomery HE, North KN, Garton FC, Houweling P, Derave W, Baguet A, Lucia A, Muniesa CA, Sessa F, Petito A, Sale C, Hughes DC, Varley I, de Geus E, Boomsma D, Bartels M, Davies GE, Ginevičienė V, Jakaitienė A, Kučinskas V, Tubelis L, Utkus A, Milašius K, Tubelis L, Moran CN, Venckunas T, Skurvydas A, Stasiulis A, Malkova D, Wilson R, Britton SL, Koch LG, Fuku N, Zempo H, Naito H, Ichinoseki-Sekine N, Kikuchi N, Miyamoto-Mikami E, Murakami H, Miyachi M, Takahashi H, Ohiwa N, Kawahara T, Tsuchie H, Tobina T, Ichinoseki-Sekine N, Tanaka H, Kaneoka K, Nakazato K, Ahmetov II, Egorova ES, Gabdrakhmanova LJ, Arkhipova AA, Borisova AV, Gabbasov RT, Stepanova AA, Kashapov RI, Rogozkin VA, Astratenkova IV, Druzhevskaya AM, Fedotovskaya ON, Golberg ND, Hakimullina AM, Kostryukova ES, Alexeev DG, Generozov EV, Ischenko DS, Kulemin NA, Larin AK, Ospanova EA, Pavlenko AV, Govorun VM, Gilep AA, Gilep IL, Haidukevich IV, Rybina IL, Drozdovska SB, Docenko VE, Ilyin VN, Lekontsev E, Akimov EB, El-Rayess M, Georgakopoulos C, Alsayrafi M, Botre F, Suhre K, Hubank M, Klissouras V, Wolfarth B, Greeves JP, Stellingwerff T, Ranson C, Fraser WD, Grealy R, Griffiths L, Scott R, Mattsson C, Tanaka M, Pushkarev VP.

Author information

1: FIMS Reference Collaborating Centre of Sports Medicine for Anti-Doping Research, University of Brighton, Eastbourne, United Kingdom; y.pitsiladis@brighton.ac.uk.
2: Department of Longevity and Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan;
3: Institute of Sport, Exercise, and Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia;
4: Human Genomics Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana;
5: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia;
6: Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe, United Kingdom;
7: Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South African;
8: Health and Exercise Sciences Research Group, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom;
9: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan;
10: Graduate School of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University, Chiba, Japan;
11: Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California;
12: Ergophysiology Research Laboratory, Department of Sport Medicine and Biology of Physical Activity, University of Athens, Athens, Greece;
13: School of Doctorate Studies & Research, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Spain;
14: Sport Technology Research Centre, Volga Region State Academy of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, Kazan, Russia;
15: VU University and VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Anti-Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ), Doha, Qatar.
16: Anti-Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ), Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

Despite numerous attempts to discover genetic variants associated with elite athletic performance, injury predisposition, and elite/world-class athletic status, there has been limited progress to date. Past reliance on candidate gene studies predominantly focusing on genotyping a limited number of single nucleotide polymorphisms or the insertion/deletion variants in small, often heterogeneous cohorts (i.e., made up of athletes of quite different sport specialties) have not generated the kind of results that could offer solid opportunities to bridge the gap between basic research in exercise sciences and deliverables in biomedicine. A retrospective view of genetic association studies with complex disease traits indicates that transition to hypothesis-free genome-wide approaches will be more fruitful. In studies of complex disease, it is well recognized that the magnitude of genetic association is often smaller than initially anticipated, and, as such, large sample sizes are required to identify the gene effects robustly. A symposium was held in Athens and on the Greek island of Santorini from 14-17 May 2015 to review the main findings in exercise genetics and genomics and to explore promising trends and possibilities. The symposium also offered a forum for the development of a position stand (the Santorini Declaration). Among the participants, many were involved in ongoing collaborative studies (e.g., ELITE, GAMES, Gene SMART, GENESIS, and POWERGENE). A consensus emerged among participants that it would be advantageous to bring together all current studies and those recently launched into one new large collaborative initiative, which was subsequently named the Athlome Project Consortium.