Translated material
Genetic cuckoo
In the USA they have learned to calculate potential centenarians
American scientists have learned to determine quite accurately using a person’s genetic code whether he can become a long-liver (live more than 100 years) or whether he will never be able to do so under any circumstances. Even after a research team from Boston University School of Medicine led by geneticist Thomas Perls recently admitted that some mistakes were made in identifying longevity genes, the accuracy of predicting the genetic cuckoo is estimated at 77%.Since exactly ten years ago - in July 2000 - the human genome was completely deciphered, scientists have not stopped extracting new information from it. For the first time, a Boston group of scientists announced the possibility of predicting life expectancy not for the average population, but for one individual in early July, publishing the results of their work in the journal Science. Researchers analyzed the genetic information of 1,055 Caucasians over 100 years old. 1267 people also belonging to this race were randomly selected as a control group. Having compared the genomes of representatives of two groups - centenarians and younger people, scientists identified 70 mutations that occurred in the predominant number of cases in centenarians. After comparing facts and specific selection of mutations, the number of genetic variants that are characteristic only of 100-year-olds was reduced to 33.
Based on the data obtained, Perls's group developed several models of the hereditary information of centenarians. To test their hypothesis, the researchers blindly analyzed randomly selected genomes using their model and guessed that they belonged to centenarians in 77 cases out of 100. At the end of the study, the scientists compiled 19 characteristic combinations of genetic traits associated with increased life expectancy. Some of these “sets” also correlate with a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease, dementia and diabetes.
True, last week, as reported by the Medportal.ru website, Thomas Perls issued an additional clarification to the work of his colleagues: it turned out that errors were made in the calculation of two genetic variants out of 150, which, according to scientists, are inherent in long-livers, and now the scientific group recounts them. But, as the group’s statistician Paola Sebastiani said, this error will not affect the accuracy of the predictions already made. "Even if both of these variants contain incorrect nucleotide sequences, the results of the study will not change," she said. According to geneticist Kari Stefansson, the scientists' mistake was due to a defect in the equipment used to decipher the genomes of centenarians. One of the gene chips erroneously doubled the number of rare gene variants found in study participants. As a result, inappropriate conclusions could be drawn about the association of these gene variants with increased life expectancy.
The unique combinations of genes identified by American scientists are essentially natural codes for longevity and are found only in 15% of people of the European race (so far only they have been studied). But in practice, only one person out of 6 thousand manages to live to be 100 years old. That is, only 0.016% of the European population can be considered centenarians. According to Thomas Perls, such a difference between the genetically determined possibility and the actual state of affairs indicates that cultural factors have a much greater influence on life expectancy than biological ones.