title: Bitter taste receptor polymorphisms and human aging.
abstract: Several studies have shown that genetic factors account for 25% of the variation in human life span. On the basis of published molecular, genetic and epidemiological data, we hypothesized that genetic polymorphisms of taste receptors, which modulate food preferences but are also expressed in a number of organs and regulate food absorption processing and metabolism, could modulate the aging process. Using a tagging approach, we investigated the possible associations between longevity and the common genetic variation at the three bitter taste receptor gene clusters on chromosomes 5, 7 and 12 in a population of 941 individuals ranging in age from 20 to 106 years from the South of Italy. We found that one polymorphism, rs978739, situated 212 bp upstream of the TAS2R16 gene, shows a statistically significant association (p = 0.001) with longevity. In particular, the frequency of A/A homozygotes increases gradually from 35% in subjects aged 20 to 70 up to 55% in centenarians. These data provide suggestive evidence on the possible correlation between human longevity and taste genetics.
authors.affiliation: Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. d.campa@dkfz.de
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Campa
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Rango
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carrai
authors.forename: Paolina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Crocco
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montesanto
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Canzian
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Cosmeri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rizzato
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Passarino
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barale
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D008957:Models, Genetic; D005810:Multigene Family; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000235:genetics*; D013649:Taste / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000502:physiology; D000098706:Taste Receptors, Type 2
chemical_list: D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D000098706:Taste Receptors, Type 2