Dale R. Nyholt, PhD
Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory
Queensland Institute of Medical Research,
Brisbane, Australia

Siblings of centenarians (people who live past 100) live longer than others. Male siblings of centenarians are at least 17 times as likely to attain age 100 themselves, whereas female siblings are 8 times as likely than people in the general population (Perls et al. 2002).

Genetic factors play an important role in exceptional longevity. Possible because they influence basic mechanisms of aging, which in turn broadly influence susceptibility to age-related illnesses. Obviously, lacking genetic variations that predispose to disease, and/or having genetic variations that provide disease resistance (longevity enabling genes), are probably both important to such a remarkable survival advantage.

Recently, a genome-wide linkage scan for such predisposing loci was conducted utilising 308 individuals belonging to 137 sibships demonstrating exceptional longevity. Significant evidence for linkage was noted on chromosome 4, at marker D4S1564, with an MLS (maximum lod score) of 3.65 (P = 0.000043) (Puca et al. 2001). These linkage results indicate the significant likelihood that there exists a gene or genes that exert a substantial positive influence upon the ability to achieve exceptional old age.

Our current knowledge on the genetics of longevity will be reviewed along with the direction of future work.

ABSTRACTS ? 24 May 2003 - Life Extension Symposium
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