Scientists identify chromosome location of genes associated with...( enarians to maintain good health for so...)

The researchers sought the characteristics to explain the disease-resistance and survival advantage characteristic of a group of individuals age 98 and older. Because centenarians are hard to find, they opened their search globally. In the process of taking medical histories it was discovered that many of the subjects also had long-lived siblings. In a previously published study by Perls, the centenarians brothers and sisters had a four times greater chance of living to age 91 compared to siblings of a control group.

Once we discovered that living to 100 was a terrific advantage, then, of course, we wanted to find out how and why they were able to have such a long and healthy life, Puca said. They suspected genetics played a larger role than the environment. The suspicion was enhanced when they found numerous families with many exceptionally old siblings.

DNA was extracted from whole blood obtained from 137 so-called sibships -- centenarians and one or more siblings (ages 91 to 109 years) -- for a total of 308 people predominantly of European descent. Co-authors Kunkel and Puca, then performed a sibling pair linkage study, using 400 markers spread along the entire human genome to find any region their subjects had in common. The search led them to a region on Chromosome 4 that contains between 100 to 500 genes. They are 95 percent certain that area is the right place to search for specific genes that are in part responsible for exceptional longevity.

Once those genes are uncovered, scientists would like to understand the biochemical pathways the gene or genes affect to promote longevity. The authors speculate that such insight could lead to the development of
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Contact: Jerry Berger
jberger@caregroup.harvard.edu
617-632-8062
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
27-Aug-2001