A team of researchers has recently discovered new genes linked to parents' lifespan, which can one day be targeted to help prolong human life. According to the University Of Exeter Devon, South West England, United Kingdom researchers, genetics and how long our parental relatives lived also plays a role. Now, the number of genes we know influence lifespan has expanded, potentially paving the way to new therapeutic targets to prolong life. The team studied 389,166 volunteers who took part in the UK Biobank, with confirmation in the US Health and Retirement Study and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.
They undertook a genome-wide search for variants influencing how long participants' parents lived. The DNA samples from the volunteers carry the genetics of their biological parents, to provide a practical way of studying exceptionally long lifespans. Eight genetic variants had already been…
