More on Mitochondrial Haplogroups and Longevity

Different haplogroups of human mitochondrial DNA appear to have some influence on longevity - though there are as many null or not terribly useful results as confirmations as the moment. This should not be surprising, given the importance of mitochondria in aging. Here's another study, this time in China: "To explore the effects of mtDNA haplogroups on the prevalence of extreme longevity (EL), a population based case-control study was conducted in Rugao - a prefecture city in Jiangsu, China. Case subjects include 463 individuals [older than] 95 yr (EL group). Control subjects include 926 individuals aged 60-69 years (elderly group) and 463 individuals aged 40-49 years (middle-aged group) randomly recruited from Rugao. We observed significant reduction of M9 haplogroups in longevity subjects (0.2%) when compared with both elderly subjects (2.2%) and middle-aged subjects (1.7%). Linear-by-linear association test revealed a significant decreasing trend of N9 frequency from middle-aged subjects (8.6%), elderly subjects (7.2%) and longevity subjects (4.8%). In subsequent analysis stratified by gender, linear-by-linear association test revealed a significant increasing trend of D4 frequency from middle-aged subjects (15.8%), elderly subjects (16.4%) and longevity subjects (21.7%) in females. Conversely, a significant decreasing trend of B4a frequency was observed from middle-aged subjects (4.2%), elderly subjects (3.8%) and longevity subjects (1.7%) in females." This all has the look of a field that will generate a big mountain of data before researchers establish any useful application of the science.

Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006423

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