The Distribution of Genetic Polymorphisms Constituting Connective Tissue in Korean Keumdo Players

It has been well known that the differences in the structure and function of connective tissues, including tendon and ligament can have a significant impact on the sports performance of athletes. Thus, in this study, we attempted to analyze whether single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP) markers in a total of four candidate genes such as rs1800012 polymorphism in collagen type I α1 chain(COL1A1) gene, rs12722 polymorphism in collagen type V α1 chain(COL5A1) gene, rs679620 polymorphism in matrix metalloproteinase 3(MMP3) gene and rs143383 polymorphism in growth and differentiation factor 5(GDF5) gene known to affect connective tissue characteristics and injuries have a significant influence on the athletic performance of kendo players. A total of 110 subjects including 35 controls and 75 kendo players were participated in this study, and genotyping on each SNP marker in a total of four candidate genes performed by SNaPshot method. Among four SNP markers, a rs679620 polymorphism in MMP3 gene was significantly associated with the athletic performance of kendo players, and especially, GG genotype and G allele indicated the significantly higher frequencies in kendo players than controls, respectively(p .05). In the future, if extended studies are conducted to confirm whether this genetic polymorphism can show a significant association with other martial art disciplines, it is expected that interesting study results can be derived.