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Menopause age shaped by genes that influence mutation risk

By mining large-population genetic data sets, researchers identify the key factors controlling menopause timing, and reveal a close connection between reproductive longevity, cancer risk and new mutations in children.
  1. Anne Goriely

    1. Anne Goriely is in the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK.

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Menopause is a major physiological transition that signals the natural end of the ability to reproduce. Writing in Nature, Stankovic et al.1 pinpoint some of the genetic factors that determine the timing of menopause. They show that these factors also influence an individual’s cancer risk and the genetic quality of the egg, which affects how many mutations newly arise in an egg and are passed on to children. These findings not only help to decipher the complex mechanisms that control reproductive ageing in women, but they also have implications for the safety of future treatments that aim to extend female fertility. (This article uses ‘women’ to reflect language used in the study1, but Nature recognizes that not all people who experience menopause identify as women.)

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Nature 633, 530-531 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02665-2

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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