Associations between STR autosomal markers and longevity

Abstract

Life span is a complex and multifactorial trait, which is shaped by genetic, epigenetic, environmental, and stochastic factors. The possibility that highly hypervariable short tandem repeats (STRs) associated with longevity has been largely explored by comparing the genotypic pools of long lived and younger individuals, but results so far have been contradictory. In view of these contradictory findings, the present study aims to investigate whether HUMTHO1 and HUMCSF1PO STRs, previously associated with longevity, exert a role as a modulator of life expectancy, as well as to assess the extent to which other autosomal STR markers are associated with human longevity in population from northern Spain. To that end, 21 autosomal microsatellite markers have been studied in 304 nonagenarian individuals (more than 90 years old) and 516 younger controls of European descent. Our results do not confirm the association found in previous studies between longevity and THO1 and CSF1PO loci. However, significant association between longevity and autosomal STR markers D12S391, D22S1045, and DS441 was observed. Even more, when we compared allelic frequency distribution of the 21 STR markers between cases and controls, we found that 6 out of the 21 STRs studied showed different allelic frequencies, thus suggesting that the genomic portrait of the human longevity is far complex and probably shaped by a high number of genomic loci.

Forensic Autosomal Short Tandem Repeats and Their Potential Association With Phenotype

“…For instance, De Benedictis et al (1998) reported a significant association of >9 TH01 repeats with longevity in male Italian centenarians. Contrariwise, von Wurmb-Schwark et al (2011) were unable to replicate this result when using the same study design on a German population, just as Bediaga et al (2015) were also unable to confirm an association in a northern Spanish population. Similarly, there are conflicting reports on the association of TH01-9.3 with SIDS across European populations.…”

Disease-associated variations of autosomal STR loci: minireview

“…The main purpose of the research conducted by N.G. Bediaga et al (2015) was to show the statistically relevant association between polymorphism of hypervariable STR loci such as HUMTHO1 (THO1) and HUMCSF1PO (CSF1PO) that are used in forensic practice and longevity. In a way to study 21 autosomal STR loci polymorphisms, 304 people aged 90 and over and 516 younger controls of European origin living in northern Spain were studied.…”