“Some of the candidate genes affected female life expectancy, while others affected male lifespan,” says Randy Strong, one of the study’s authors. “A different set of genes extended the longevity of both sexes.” On rare occasions for this type of study, results were obtained in a mouse population with genetic diversity comparable to humans.
The study’s co-author, James Nelson, said they each have different genetic variants, which results in slightly different proteins that do slightly different things and that together can affect aging.
The authors say the study is unique in that it was based on a large sample of several thousand animals. “This is one of the largest numbers of mice in any study trying to identify genes that affect longevity,” says Nelson.
Source: Ferra
