Genetic Signatures of Centenarians

Abstract

Exceptional long-living people, i.e., individuals who belong to the fifth percentile of the survival curve, are genetically predisposed to reach extreme ages. The challenge, since the beginning of the 1990s, was the identification of the genetic variants that predispose these individuals to avoid diseases of ageing and live long and healthy lives. Genetic approaches (study design) were adopted based on the available platforms. Indeed, entrepreneurs started with a candidate gene approach under case-control study design, followed by sibling pair linkage analysis, a first comprehensive unbiased study and back to the case-control study with SNPs array, imputation and whole genome sequencing. Results were analysed either independently or by combining different cohorts through meta-analysis. Furthermore, genetic signatures were identified that predict the phenotypic outcome of exceptional long-living individuals.