Assessing the Genetic Influence on Human Life Span

The falling cost of gene sequencing allows for genetic data to be incorporated into studies of ever larger populations. At least hundreds of thousands of entire human genomes have been sequenced, and more selective sequencing has been undertaken for millions more. This data is now beginning to show up in epidemiological studies that tackle questions of health, choice, aging, and longevity. What should we expect to see emerge from this scientific analysis? It seems fairly clear from the extensive existing evidence, data that results from many association studies carried out in search of gene variants correlated with longevity, that a large number of genes contribute to life span. Collectively these genes influence the highly complex relationship between the operation of metabolism and pace of aging, but the contribution to longevity resulting from any one gene is small. Further, the contribution of a single gene to aging and longevity is usually strongly contingent on environmental factors or the presence of other gene variants. As a result, an association with longevity discovered in one study population is rarely replicated in others. Only a very few genes have exhibited a robust correlation with longevity in multiple studies, and their effect sizes are (with one exception) quite small. When it comes to the overall interaction between genes and longevity, many lines of evidence lead the scientific community to believe that the genetic contribution to huma...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs