FIGURE 9.

Skeletal muscle genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptome responses to a bout of resistance exercise. This schematic (constructed with BioRender.com, with permission) summarizes recent data [Sexton et al. 2023 (573)] demonstrating alterations in skeletal muscle tissue DNA methylation status after a bout of resistance exercise in humans. The researchers concluded that 1) alterations in DNA methylation statuses occur very rapidly (i.e., 3 h vs. 6 h after exercise); 2) contrary to past hypotheses suggesting that exercise generally elicits a reduction in DNA methylation, more hypermethylation events occurred 3 h after exercise relative to hypomethylation events; and 3) alterations in DNA methylation patterns likely precede and are, in part, responsible for altered mRNA expression patterns. HIF, hypoxia-inducible factor; PI3K, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase.