Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Broer, Linda
• Codd, Veryan
• Nyholt, Dale R
• Deelen, Joris
• Mangino, Massimo
• Willemsen, Gonneke
• Albrecht, Eva
• Amin, Najaf
• Beekman, Marian
• de Geus, Eco J C
• Henders, Anjali
• Nelson, Christopher P
• Steves, Claire J
• Wright, Margie J
• de Craen, Anton J M
• Isaacs, Aaron
• Matthews, Mary
• Moayyeri, Alireza
• Montgomery, Grant W
• Oostra, Ben A
• Vink, Jacqueline M
• Spector, Tim D
• Slagboom, P Eline
• Martin, Nicholas G
• Samani, Nilesh J
• van Duijn, Cornelia M
• Boomsma, Dorret I

Titel

Meta-analysis of telomere length in 19,713 subjects reveals high heritability, stronger maternal inheritance and a paternal age effect

Ist Teil von

• European journal of human genetics : EJHG, 2013-10, Vol.21 (10), p.1163-1168

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Telomere length (TL) has been associated with aging and mortality, but individual differences are also influenced by genetic factors, with previous studies reporting heritability estimates ranging from 34 to 82%. Here we investigate the heritability, mode of inheritance and the influence of parental age at birth on TL in six large, independent cohort studies with a total of 19,713 participants. The meta-analysis estimate of TL heritability was 0.70 (95% CI 0.64-0.76) and is based on a pattern of results that is highly similar for twins and other family members. We observed a stronger mother-offspring (r=0.42; P-value=3.60 × 10(-61)) than father-offspring correlation (r=0.33; P-value=7.01 × 10(-5)), and a significant positive association with paternal age at offspring birth (β=0.005; P-value=7.01 × 10(-5)). Interestingly, a significant and quite substantial correlation in TL between spouses (r=0.25; P-value=2.82 × 10(-30)) was seen, which appeared stronger in older spouse pairs (mean age ≥55 years; r=0.31; P-value=4.27 × 10(-23)) than in younger pairs (mean age<55 years; r=0.20; P-value=3.24 × 10(-10)). In summary, we find a high and very consistent heritability estimate for TL, evidence for a maternal inheritance component and a positive association with paternal age.