If you have had any genetic tests, you’ve probably come across the “sprinter gene”, or Actin.

Here is a paper showing that there are multiple actins, each with small differences in amino acid structure. These include cariac-, smooth-, and muscle- isoforms.

Interestingly, small differences can lead to different function:

Although actin is often thought of as a single protein, in mammals it actually consists of six different isoforms encoded by separate genes. Each isoform is remarkably similar to every other isoform, with only slight variations in amino acid sequence. Nevertheless, recent work indicates that actin isoforms carry out unique cellular functions.

Here is the link to the full article.

We will continue the discussion on genetic testing in future articles.