New at Science Daily,
Couch Potatoes Explained? Missing Key Genes may be Cause for Lack of Resolve to Exercise Researchers Find
Researchers breed some mice who lacked 2 genes.
These genes controlled the release of AMPK (activated protein kinase).
It gets released when you exercise and leads to the production of more mitochondria in the cell.
Bio 101: mitochondria the “power house” of the cell.
Mitochondria metabolize glucose and produce energy.
It looks like the “lazy” mice couldn’t produce the energy needed:
“While the normal mice could run for miles, those without the genes in their muscle could only run the same distance as down the hall and back.
The “lazy” mice couldn’t produce enough energy at the cellular level to continue to exercise.
The researchers found the mice without the muscle AMPK genes had lower levels of mitochondria and an impaired ability for their muscles to take up glucose while they exercise.
“When you exercise you get more mitochondria growing in your muscle. If you don’t exercise, the number of mitochondria goes down. By removing these genes we identified the key regulator of the mitochondria is the enzyme AMPK,” said Steinberg.
Good new is that if this is the case with humans (who haven’t been genetically modified) beginning or continuing to exercise would maintain mitochondrial density (we know this) and make exercising easier.
I know, this is an obvious point.
About Roy:
