Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Skeletal Muscle in Response to Endurance Exercises

Repeated bouts of endurance exercise stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle. The synthesis of mitochondrial proteins involves a coordinated expression of both nuclear and mitochondrial genes. During this process, multiples sites of regulation have been identified at the transcriptional and translational levels. After their synthesis, mitochondrial proteins originating from the nuclear genome are imported into newly synthesized preexisting membranes and directed to one of the four mitochondrial subcompartments. The detailed mechanisms of the endurance training-induced mitochondrial biogenesis are still poorly understood. In particular, much work is needed to identify the molecular signals able to stimulate and coordinate the expression of mitochondrial proteins in response to endurance training. This will be a great help in the future to understand clearly the intimate mechanisms of mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle and the factors involved in endurance exercise performance.