title: Telomere length is paternally inherited and is associated with parental lifespan.
abstract: Telomere length (TL) is emerging as a biomarker for aging and survival. To evaluate factors influencing this trait, we measured TL in a large homogeneous population, estimated the heritability (h(2)), and tested for parental effects on TL variation. Our sample included 356 men and 551 women, aged 18-92 years, from large Amish families. Mean TL in leukocytes was measured by quantitative PCR (mean: 6,198 +/- 1,696 bp). The h(2) of TL was 0.44 +/- 0.06 (P < 0.001), after adjusting for age, sex, and TL assay batch. As expected, TL was negatively correlated with age (r = -0.40; P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in TL between men and women, consistent with our previous findings that Amish men lived as long as Amish women. There was a stronger and positive correlation and association between TL in the offspring and paternal TL (r = 0.46, P < 0.001; beta = 0.22, P = 0.006) than offspring and maternal TL (r = 0.18, P = 0.04; beta = -0.02, P = 0.4). Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation and association between daughter's TL and paternal lifespan (r = 0.20, P < 0.001; beta = 0.21, P = 0.04), but not between daughter's TL and maternal lifespan (r = -0.01, beta = 0.04; both P = not significant). Our data, which are based on one of the largest family studies of human TL, support a link between TL and aging and lifespan and suggest a strong genetic influence, possibly via an imprinting mechanism, on TL regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Omer T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Njajou
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Cawthon
authors.forename: Coleen M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Damcott
authors.forename: Shih-Hsuan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Garant
authors.forename: Elizabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Blackburn
authors.forename: Braxton D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Alan R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Shuldiner
authors.forename: Wen-Chi
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Hsueh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D040582:Inheritance Patterns / Q000235:genetics*; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016615:Telomere / Q000378:metabolism*