Maximum life spans in mice are extended by wild strain alleles.
The genes that control basic aging mechanisms in mammals are unknown. By using two four-way crosses, each including a strain derived from wild, undomesticated stocks, we identified two quantitative trait loci that extend murine life spans by approximately 10%. In one cross, the longest-lived 18% of carriers of the D8Mit171 marker allele from the MOLD/Rk strain, Mus m. molossinus, outlived the longest lived 18% of noncarriers by 129 days (P = 5.4 x 10(-5)); in a second cross, carriers of the D10Mit267 allele from the CAST/Ei strain, Mus m. castaneus, outlived noncarriers by 125 days ( P = 1.6 x 10(-6)). In both crosses, P < 1.0 x 10(-4 )is considered significant. Because these life span increases required that all essential biological systems function longer than normal, these alleles most likely retarded basic aging mechanisms in multiple biological systems simultaneously.
Klebanov
S
S
The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609, USA.
Astle
C M
CM
Roderick
T H
TH
Flurkey
K
K
Archer
J R
JR
Chen
J
J
Harrison
D E
DE
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D016019:Survival Analysis