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The genetics of human ageing

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 21, pages 88–101 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The past two centuries have witnessed an unprecedented rise in human life expectancy. Sustaining longer lives with reduced periods of disability will require an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of ageing, and genetics is a powerful tool for identifying these mechanisms. Large-scale genome-wide association studies have recently identified many loci that influence key human ageing traits, including lifespan. Multi-trait loci have been linked with several age-related diseases, suggesting shared ageing influences. Mutations that drive accelerated ageing in prototypical progeria syndromes in humans point to an important role for genome maintenance and stability. Together, these different strands of genetic research are highlighting pathways for the discovery of anti-ageing interventions that may be applicable in humans.

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Fig. 1: Genetic overlap between age-related chronic diseases and parental longevity, based on correlations between whole-genome association results.
Fig. 2: Selected loci with correlated variants associated with three or more age-related diseases or lifespan.
Fig. 3: Disease-associated genetic variants in the 9p21.3 locus by effect size of association with parental lifespan.
Fig. 4: Diagram of the major influences and mechanisms of human ageing.

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Acknowledgements

D.M. and L.C.P. are supported by the University of Exeter Medical School and additionally by the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. This work is supported in part by the UK Medical Research Council (grants MR/M023095/1 and MRS009892/1). This work was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute on Aging.

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  1. Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    David Melzer & Luke C. Pilling

  2. School of Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA

    David Melzer & Luke C. Pilling

  3. National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Luigi Ferrucci

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  1. David Melzer
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All authors researched the literature, provided substantial contributions to discussions of the content, and reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission. D.M. and L.F. wrote the article.

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Related links

Circos Table Viewer: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/tableviewer/visualize/

GWAS Catalog: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/

Online Mendelian Inheritance of Man (OMIM): https://www.omim.org

Supplementary information

Glossary

Genome-wide association studies

(GWAS). A study that involves genotyping large numbers of participants to identify statistical associations between genetic variants and traits of interest.

Somatic mutations

Changes to the genetic code arising from errors during DNA damage repair, DNA replication or mitosis, occurring in somatic (non-germline) tissues.

Heritability

The proportion of variance in a phenotype that can be attributed to genetic differences among individuals in a given population. Narrow-sense heritability estimates additive genetic effects. Broad-sense heritability includes both additive and dominance effects.

Polygenic risk score

Individual-level scores that summarize genetic risk (or protection) for a given phenotype. For each person, a score is computed by counting the number of effect alleles (genetic variants, weighted by their effect) that the person carries. A polygenic score is computed by summing scores from a large number, potentially all, of the variants in the genome.

Linkage disequilibrium

(LD). Non-random associations between alleles at different loci.

Mendelian randomization

A method that uses single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with an exposure as instruments to probe the causal nature of the relationship between this exposure and an outcome of interest.

Antagonistic pleiotropy

Theory arguing that some mutations are selected because they are beneficial to early-life fitness but become harmful later in life, thus causing ageing.

Clonal expansion

The production of daughter cells from a single parent cell, all sharing a particular characteristic or trait.

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Melzer, D., Pilling, L.C. & Ferrucci, L. The genetics of human ageing. Nat Rev Genet 21, 88–101 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-019-0183-6

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