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Issue 2 | February 2017
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The question that needs to be asked is:
what do a Belgium Blue (a cow) and a
German baby have in common? It’s easy
to name the simple things such as blood
and organs but that’s very boring. What’s
interesting is the genetic mutation they
share.
Around the turn of the 21
st
century a baby was born
in Berlin. This baby was described to have
“chiselled biceps” and “tight skin” around his legs
and calves. This was not baby fat but instead the ba-
by was twice as strong as a normal baby. He was
born completely healthy, just with this abnormal
strength. This strength continued and by age four, it
was reported he could hold 3Kg dumbbells horizon-
tally at arm’s length. However, it wasn’t as if this
strength came from nowhere. His mother was a
sprinter and both his father and brother were strong.
Yet the interesting part is his grandad, who was a
construction worker. This man is claimed to have
been able to lift 150Kg curb stones from truck beds
with his bare hands. This strength is known as dou-
ble muscle, which is due to a genetic mutation in
chromosome 2 on a gene named GDF-8. GDF-8 is
responsible for the production of a protein called
myostatin which stops muscle growth. This faulty
gene means that myostatin cannot be synthesised in
the German super baby resulting in uncontrollable
muscle growth.
In a Belgium Blue cow this is the same situation,
double muscle. Belgium Blue were breed after the
Second World War as a source of meat. They bred a
Friesian Diary cow and a Durham Shorthorn which
resulted in a Belgium Blue. As shown in the photo
below, the cow has extremely great amounts of mus-
cle as they have no stop sign for muscle growth. Un-
derstanding this mutation could potentially help peo-
ple with muscle diseases such as mitochondrial dis-
ease, which is when the mitochondria in cells do not
function properly. This means muscles can’t operate
correctly. Despite the beneficial side effect of this
faulty gene, there is the issue of people trying to use
it as a form of muscle enhancement in elite sports.
Dr Se-Jin Lee, who has been researching this muta-
tion, has been contacted by elite athletes wishing to
abuse this technology.
A final interesting point is that they have done work
with mice in which quadruple muscle was created.
Mice were injected with a transgene that produces
the muscle building insulin-like growth factor, IGF-
1, and they had no gene for myostatin. The result
was quadruple muscle (the incredible hulk of mice).
The Belgium Blue and a Little German Baby
Max Thompson - L6th