It’s January and a common discussion focuses on exercise after the excesses of the celebrations now past. Another common discussion is about this now being the year of the A-Level exams for Y13.

Mock exams are imminent and the final topics of A-Level Biology will be covered this term. Some of these topics are very challenging, for instance, the regulation of gene expression (OCR and AQA). But despite its complexity as a topic, we can enhance accessibility with relating to real life tangible events.

In every one of our cells is our human genome, but only a tiny proportion (≈2%) of it comprises genes (is coding). And of these ≈20 000 genes, most won’t be expressed because the protein product they code for is not needed by the cell. Our cells are designed to respond to environmental changes and change their gene expression. This may mean switching on certain genes, increasing the expression of others or switching off specific genes. All this must be regulated by way of transcription factors and other regulating events.

In this article, it details the findings that just 10 minutes of exercise causes a change of molecules in the blood.

• The scientist’s investigation involved taking blood from 10 male obese/overweight but otherwise healthy volunteers that had completed the set exercise.
• Blood was taken before and after the exercise.
• They added the blood serum to bowel cancer cells in a petri dish.
• The concentration of 13 proteins increased after the exercise.
• These proteins are linked to reducing inflammation, improving blood vessel function and general metabolism.
• These molecules changed the gene expression of 1 364 genes!
• The cancer cells showed better DNA repair – the PNKP DNA repair gene was activated and genes linked to rapid cell growth were silenced.

So, exercise keeps us healthy and protects us from cancer but also keeps our memory sharp enhancing our cognitive performance – so it’s all pointing us to get running, cycling and walking our way to a successful 2026.

Download the article from the Independent News page here

Download the article from the International Journal of Cancer page here