Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important dietary components that mammals cannot synthesize de novo. Beneficial effects of PUFAs, in particular of the n-3 class, for certain aspects of animal and human health (e.g., cardiovascular function) are well known. Several observations suggest, howev...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2006-12-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000065 |
| _version_ | 1819017219445620736 |
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| author | Thomas Ruf Teresa Valencak Frieda Tataruch Walter Arnold |
| author_facet | Thomas Ruf Teresa Valencak Frieda Tataruch Walter Arnold |
| author_sort | Thomas Ruf |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important dietary components that mammals cannot synthesize de novo. Beneficial effects of PUFAs, in particular of the n-3 class, for certain aspects of animal and human health (e.g., cardiovascular function) are well known. Several observations suggest, however, that PUFAs may also affect the performance of skeletal muscles in vertebrates. For instance, it has been shown that experimentally n-6 PUFA-enriched diets increase the maximum swimming speed in salmon. Also, we recently found that the proportion of PUFAs in the muscle phospholipids of an extremely fast runner, the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), are very high compared to other mammals. Therefore, we predicted that locomotor performance, namely running speed, should be associated with differences in muscle fatty acid profiles. To test this hypothesis, we determined phospholipid fatty acid profiles in skeletal muscles of 36 mammalian species ranging from shrews to elephants. We found that there is indeed a general positive, surprisingly strong relation between the n-6 PUFAs content in muscle phospholipids and maximum running speed of mammals. This finding suggests that muscle fatty acid composition directly affects a highly fitness-relevant trait, which may be decisive for the ability of animals to escape from predators or catch prey. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:00:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e87c3a28fea140a79b2029b625b724cf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:00:03Z |
| publishDate | 2006-12-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-e87c3a28fea140a79b2029b625b724cf2022-12-21T19:18:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032006-12-011e6510.1371/journal.pone.0000065Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content.Thomas RufTeresa ValencakFrieda TataruchWalter ArnoldPolyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important dietary components that mammals cannot synthesize de novo. Beneficial effects of PUFAs, in particular of the n-3 class, for certain aspects of animal and human health (e.g., cardiovascular function) are well known. Several observations suggest, however, that PUFAs may also affect the performance of skeletal muscles in vertebrates. For instance, it has been shown that experimentally n-6 PUFA-enriched diets increase the maximum swimming speed in salmon. Also, we recently found that the proportion of PUFAs in the muscle phospholipids of an extremely fast runner, the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), are very high compared to other mammals. Therefore, we predicted that locomotor performance, namely running speed, should be associated with differences in muscle fatty acid profiles. To test this hypothesis, we determined phospholipid fatty acid profiles in skeletal muscles of 36 mammalian species ranging from shrews to elephants. We found that there is indeed a general positive, surprisingly strong relation between the n-6 PUFAs content in muscle phospholipids and maximum running speed of mammals. This finding suggests that muscle fatty acid composition directly affects a highly fitness-relevant trait, which may be decisive for the ability of animals to escape from predators or catch prey.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000065 |
| spellingShingle | Thomas Ruf Teresa Valencak Frieda Tataruch Walter Arnold Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content. PLoS ONE |
| title | Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content. |
| title_full | Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content. |
| title_fullStr | Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content. |
| title_short | Running speed in mammals increases with muscle n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content. |
| title_sort | running speed in mammals increases with muscle n 6 polyunsaturated fatty acid content |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000065 |
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