Influence of DAT1 Promotor Methylation on Sports Performance

In the mammalian genome, DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism involving the transfer of a methyl group onto the C5 position of the cytosine to form 5-methylcytosine. DNA methylation regulates gene expression by recruiting proteins involved in gene repression or by inhibiting the binding of transcription factors (TFs) to DNA. As there are still many questions concerning the role of methylation in creating personality, we concentrated on searching for such associations. The research group was 100 sports male subjects (mean age = 22.88, SD = 6.35), whereas the control group included 239 healthy male volunteers matched for age (mean age = 21.69, SD = 3.39), both of European origin. The methods used in our research were as follows: DNA isolation, methylation-specific PCR, sequencing chromatophores, all conducted according to the manufacturer's procedure. To evaluate personality traits, the NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) and STAI Inventory were used. We observed the existence of a statistically significant correlation for all the aspects of personality covered and CpG islands' methylation. Nonetheless, we think that the tested group and the number of tested promotor islands in the DAT1 gene are still too small to make explicit conclusions, so it needs further profound analysis.