Association of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups with exceptional longevity in a Chinese population.
BACKGROUND
Longevity is a multifactorial trait with a genetic contribution, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms were found to be involved in the phenomenon of longevity.


RESULTS
To explore the effects of mtDNA haplogroups on the prevalence of extreme longevity (EL), a population based case-control study was conducted in Rugao--a prefecture city in Jiangsu, China. Case subjects include 463 individuals aged > or = 95 yr (EL group). Control subjects include 926 individuals aged 60-69 years (elderly group) and 463 individuals aged 40-49 years (middle-aged group) randomly recruited from Rugao. We observed significant reduction of M9 haplogroups in longevity subjects (0.2%) when compared with both elderly subjects (2.2%) and middle-aged subjects (1.7%). Linear-by-linear association test revealed a significant decreasing trend of N9 frequency from middle-aged subjects (8.6%), elderly subjects (7.2%) and longevity subjects (4.8%) (p = 0.018). In subsequent analysis stratified by gender, linear-by-linear association test revealed a significant increasing trend of D4 frequency from middle-aged subjects (15.8%), elderly subjects (16.4%) and longevity subjects (21.7%) in females (p = 0.025). Conversely, a significant decreasing trend of B4a frequency was observed from middle-aged subjects (4.2%), elderly subjects (3.8%) and longevity subjects (1.7%) in females (p = 0.045).


CONCLUSIONS
Our observations support the association of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups with exceptional longevity in a Chinese population.
Cai
Xiao-yun
XY
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Wang
Xiao-feng
XF
Li
Shi-lin
SL
Qian
Ji
J
Qian
De-gui
DG
Chen
Fei
F
Yang
Ya-jun
YJ
Yuan
Zi-yu
ZY
Xu
Jun
J
Bai
Yidong
Y
Yu
Shun-zhang
SZ
Jin
Li
L
D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial