Telomere length (TL) is emerging as a biomarker for aging and survival. To evaluate factors influencing this trait, we measured TL in a large homogeneous population, estimated the heritability (h2), and tested for parental effects on TL variation. Our sample included 356 men and 551 women, aged 18-92 years, from large Amish families. Mean TL in leukocytes was measured by quantitative PCR (mean: 6,198 ± 1,696 bp). The h2 of TL was 0.44 ± 0.06 (P < 0.001), after adjusting for age, sex, and TL assay batch. As expected, TL was negatively correlated with age (r = -0.40; P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in TL between men and women, consistent with our previous findings that Amish men lived as long as Amish women. There was a stronger and positive correlation and association between TL in the offspring and paternal TL (r = 0.46, P < 0.001; β = 0.22, P = 0.006) than offspring and maternal TL (r = 0.18, P = 0.04; β = -0.02, P = 0.4). Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation and association between daughter's TL and paternal lifespan (r = 0.20, P < 0.001; β = 0.21, P = 0.04), but not between daughter's TL and maternal lifespan (r = -0.01, β = 0.04; both P = not significant). Our data, which are based on one of the largest family studies of human TL, support a link between TL and aging and lifespan and suggest a strong genetic influence, possibly via an imprinting mechanism, on TL regulation. © 2007 by The National Academy of Sdences of the USA.
CITATION STYLE
Njajou, O. T., Cawthon, R. M., Damcott, C. M., Wu, S. H., Ott, S., Garant, M. J., … Hsueh, W. C. (2007). Telomere length is paternally inherited and is associated with parental lifespan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(29), 12135–12139. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0702703104
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