A genome-wide association study identifies a locus on TERT for mean telomere length in Han Chinese.
Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a predictor of aging and a number of age-related diseases. We performed genome-wide association studies of mean LTL in 2632 individuals,with a two-stage replication in 3917 individuals from Chinese populations. To further validate our findings, we get the results of 696 samples from a cohort of European ancestry. We identified two loci associated with LTL that map in telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT; rs2736100, P = 1.93×10(-5)) on chromosome 5p15.33 and near keratin 80 (KRT80; rs17653722, P = 6.96×10(-6)) on 12q13.13. In Chinese population each C allele of rs2736100 and T allele of rs17653722 was associated with a longer mean telomere length of 0.026 and 0.059 T/S, respectively, equivalent to about 3 and 7 years of average age-related telomere attrition. Our findings provide new insights into telomere regulatory mechanism and even pathogenesis of age-related diseases.
Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Yun
Y
Liu
Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Lan
L
Cao
Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Zhiqiang
Z
Li
Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Daizhan
D
Zhou
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America.
Wanqing
W
Liu
Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, PR China.
Qin
Q
Shen
Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
Yanting
Y
Wu
Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
Dan
D
Zhang
Department of Stomatology, Ruijin Hospital Luwan Branch, Shanghai, PR China.
Xun
X
Hu
Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, PR China.
Ting
T
Wang
Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Junyi
J
Ye
Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Xiaoling
X
Weng
Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Hong
H
Zhang
Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Di
D
Zhang
Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Zhou
Z
Zhang
Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, PR China.
Fatao
F
Liu
Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Lin
L
He
Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China.
Yongyong
Y
Shi
D000367:Age Factors; D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People; D002895:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5 / Q000737:chemistry; D056426:Genetic Loci; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D007633:Keratins / Q000235:genetics; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics*; D016615:Telomere; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis; D044465:White People
D007633:Keratins; C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase