Genes of Oldest People Offer No Insights to Long Life By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 12, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The genes of the world's oldest people have been sequenced, but the decoding effort did not reveal any genes strongly linked with an exceptionally long lifespan, scientists report.

Researchers performed whole-genome sequencing on 17 people older than 110 years of age -- so-called supercentenarians -- to learn more about genes that might play a role in extreme longevity.

Currently, there are 74 supercentenarians in the world, including 22 in the United States.

While the researchers did not pinpoint any genes associated with extreme longevity, they published the results of the participants' study so that it can be used for future research of how genes affect lifespan.

The findings are published Nov. 12 in the journal PLOS One.