After the same 8 weeks of aerobic exercise, the myocardial autophagy‐related AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK)–Unc‐51 like autophagy activating kinase 1 (ULK1) pathway was improved in spontaneously type 2 diabetic rats, leading to an increase in the level of mitophagy in the myocardium as well as effectively attenuating the pathogenesis of type 2 DCM (Hou et al., 2022). This evidence concerns the gene ULK1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.