This is an article I found on the Science Magazine website. Apparently scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have removed a gene from mice that have caused them to be capable of running six times further than normal mice do. When investigated further it was found that the mice exhibit more mitochondrial cells to produce energy as well as more muscle fibers. The team hypothesizes that fast twitch muscle in the modified mice was converted to more slow twitch muscle giving them greater endurance. The study also looked into this gene variation in Olympic and world-class athletes finding that endurance sport athletes commonly had a certain variant of the gene in question.

I’m curious if we’ll be seeing ultra-endurance athletes who have been modified like these mice in the future Olympic games. Surely it would change the outcome of marathons all over the world and perhaps make them even longer than they already are to challenge a new breed of athlete?

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/07/missing-gene-helps-mice-run-for-.html