Molecular Biology of Exercise and Nutrition

Abstract

The basis for improvements in exercise performance typically revolves around the systemic processes, that is, what happens at the molecular level, that govern our body’s ability to adapt to various methods of training and nutritional intervention. It is a well-known and accepted fact that many of these processes of adaptation are governed by regulatory signals centered at the molecular level; however, at present, many of these signals are not well elucidated. For instance, these signals are many times responsible for regulating the activity of protein synthesis. Furthermore, protein synthesis is, in many ways, completely dependent on the expression patterns of various genes which, when up-regulated, are responsible for initiating the cascade of events leading to the synthesis of a respective protein. This being the case, exercise and nutrition provide potent stimuli through which many exercise-responsive genes are expressed. Additionally, a person’s nutritional status and dietary habits can oftentimes have significant roles in regulating the molecular regulatory mechanisms that seem to govern many of the processes of physiologic adaptation to exercise. Because of the overwhelming complexity of this topic, it should be understood by the reader that information contained in this chapter will only provide a general overview of the molecular aspects of exercise and nutrition. Also, many of the molecular principles discussed herein occur in many different cell and tissue types. However, because of the nature of this textbook, bias will primarily be given to skeletal muscle because it is a tissue highly susceptible to exercise adaptation. Also, because the central dogma of molecular biology is based on the premise that molecular responses are primarily involved in protein synthesis, this chapter focuses more on the role of protein rather than the other macronutrients, carbohydrates and fats.