title: Biogenetic mechanisms predisposing to complex phenotypes in parents may function differently in their children.
abstract: This study focuses on the participants of the Long Life Family Study to elucidate whether biogenetic mechanisms underlying relationships among heritable complex phenotypes in parents function in the same way for the same phenotypes in their children. Our results reveal 3 characteristic groups of relationships among phenotypes in parents and children. One group composed of 3 pairs of phenotypes confirms that associations among some phenotypes can be explained by the same biogenetic mechanisms working in parents and children. Two other groups including 9 phenotype pairs show that this is not a common rule. Our findings suggest that biogenetic mechanisms underlying relationships among different phenotypes, even if they are causally related, can function differently in successive generations or in different age groups of biologically related individuals. The results suggest that the role of aging-related processes in changing environment may be conceptually underestimated in current genetic association studies using genome wide resources.
authors.affiliation: Center for Population Health and Aging, Duke University, Box 90408, Trent Hall, Room 002, Durham, NC 27708, USA. Alexander.Kulminski@duke.edu
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kulminski
authors.forename: Konstantin G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Arbeev
authors.forename: Kaare
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stallard
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miljkovic
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barmada
authors.forename: Anatoliy I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Yashin
mesh_terms: D032721:Adult Children; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D004777:Environment; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents; D010641:Phenotype