Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B15 3TN, UK.
Department of Sport Science, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK.
Genes (Basel). 2023 Jul 12;14(7):1431. doi: 10.3390/genes14071431.
The purpose of this study was to examine polygenic profiles previously associated with maturity timing in male academy football players across different age phases. Thus, 159 male football players from four English academies (U12-16, = 86, aged 13.58 ± 1.58 years; U17-23, = 73, aged 18.07 ± 1.69 years) and 240 male European controls were examined. Polygenic profiles comprised 39 single nucleotide polymorphisms and were analysed using unweighted and weighted total genotype scores (TGSs; TWGSs). There were significant differences in polygenic profiles between groups, whereby U17-23 players had more genetic variants associated with later maturity compared to U12-16 players (TGS, = 0.010; TWGS, = 0.024) and controls (TGS, = 0.038; TWGS, = 0.020). More specifically, U17-23 players had over two-times the odds of possessing >36 later-maturing alleles than <30 compared to U12-16 players (odds ratio (OR) = 2.84) and controls (OR = 2.08). These results suggest there was a greater proportion of relatively later-maturing players as maturation plateaus towards adulthood, which may be explained by the 'underdog hypothesis'. This study provides the first known molecular evidence that supports the notion that a maturity selection bias exists within male academy football.
本研究旨在检验先前与男性学院足球运动员不同年龄阶段成熟时间相关的多基因谱。因此，研究检查了来自四个英国学院（U12-16， = 86，年龄 13.58 ± 1.58 岁；U17-23， = 73，年龄 18.07 ± 1.69 岁）的 159 名男性足球运动员和 240 名欧洲男性对照。多基因谱由 39 个单核苷酸多态性组成，使用非加权和加权总基因型评分（TGS；TWGS）进行分析。组间多基因谱存在显著差异，U17-23 年龄段的运动员比 U12-16 年龄段的运动员（TGS， = 0.010；TWGS， = 0.024）和对照组（TGS， = 0.038；TWGS， = 0.020）具有更多与成熟较晚相关的遗传变异。更具体地说，与 U12-16 运动员相比，U17-23 运动员具有更多（OR = 2.84）和对照组（OR = 2.08）具有 >36 个成熟较晚等位基因的可能性大于具有 <30 个成熟较晚等位基因的可能性。这些结果表明，随着向成年期的成熟平台，有更大比例的相对较晚成熟的运动员，这可以用“弱者假说”来解释。本研究首次提供了分子证据，支持了男性学院足球中存在成熟选择偏倚的观点。
