Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dato, Serena
• Rose, Giuseppina
• Crocco, Paolina
• Monti, Daniela
• Garagnani, Paolo
• Franceschi, Claudio
• Passarino, Giuseppe

Titel

The genetics of human longevity: an intricacy of genes, environment, culture and microbiome

Ist Teil von

• Mechanisms of ageing and development, 2017-07, Vol.165 (Pt B), p.147-155

Ort / Verlag

Ireland: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Access via ScienceDirect (Elsevier)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Longevity is a highly plastic trait, a remodelling process comprising modification of internal and external stimuli.•Genetic contribution to longevity underlies half a hundred of genes associated with long lifespan in different populations.•Lifestyle changes, social and cultural factors can account for survival differences among individuals.•Microbioma is an example of complex interaction organism-environment.•New approaches analysing -gene-environment and gene–gene interactions can help us to understand interplays acting in determining the chance to survive at extreme ages.•Gene-environment and gene-gene interactions studies can help to better understand interplays acting in longevity determination. Approximately one-quarter of the variation in lifespan in developed countries can be attributed to genetic factors. However, even large population based studies investigating genetic influence on human lifespan have been disappointing, identifying only a few genes accounting for genetic susceptibility to longevity. Some environmental and lifestyle determinants associated with longevity have been identified, which interplay with genetic factors in an intricate way. The study of gene-environment and gene–gene interactions can significantly improve our chance to disentangle this complex scenario. In this review, we first describe the most recent approaches for genetic studies of longevity, from those enriched with health parameters and frailty measures to pathway-based and SNP–SNP interaction analyses. Then, we go deeper into the concept of “environmental influences” in human aging and longevity, focusing on the contribution of life style changes, social and cultural influences, as important determinants of survival differences among individuals in a population. Finally, we discuss the contribution of the microbiome in human longevity, as an example of complex interaction between organism and environment. In conclusion, evidences collected from the latest studies on human longevity provide a support for the collection of life-long genetic and environmental/lifestyle variables with beneficial or detrimental effects on health, to improve our understanding of the determinants of human lifespan.