The human genetics of longevity are exceedingly complex, that much is possible to say from the research to date. Nearly every study of associations between gene variants and longevity in a human population identifies some correlations, and, barring just a few genes, none of those associations are found in any other study. So the genetics of longevity involves myriad tiny conditional contributions, each such contribution very dependent on a web of environmental factors and a network of other gene variants. This is one of the reasons why I see efforts to map the genetics of centenarians and long-lived families to be of…
The Genetics of Human Longevity in a Nutshell: Only a Few Identified Variants, and Everything Else a Mystery
The human genetics of longevity are exceedingly complex, that much is possible to say from the research to date. Nearly every study of associations between gene variants and longevity in a human population identifies some correlations, and, barring just a few genes, none of those associations are found in any other study. So the genetics of longevity involves myriad tiny conditional contributions, each such contribution very dependent on a web of environmental factors and a network of other gene variants. This is one of the reasons why I see efforts to map the genetics of centenarians and long-lived families to be of…