title: Living long and ageing well: is epigenomics the missing link between nature and nurture?
abstract: Human longevity is a complex trait and increasingly we understand that both genes and lifestyle interact in the longevity phenotype. Non-genetic factors, including diet, physical activity, health habits, and psychosocial factors contribute approximately 50% of the variability in human lifespan with another 25% explained by genetic differences. Family clusters of nonagenarian and centenarian siblings, who show both exceptional age-span and health-span, are likely to have inherited facilitatory gene groups, but also have nine decades of life experiences and behaviours which have interacted with their genetic profiles. Identification of their shared genes is just one small step in the link from genes to their physical and psychological profiles. Behavioural genomics is beginning to demonstrate links to biological mechanisms through regulation of gene expression, which directs the proteome and influences the personal phenotype. Epigenetics has been considered the missing link between nature and nurture. Although there is much that remains to be discovered, this article will discuss some of genetic and environmental factors which appear important in good quality longevity and link known epigenetic mechanisms to themes identified by nonagenarians themselves related to their longevity. Here we suggest that exceptional 90-year old siblings have adopted a range of behaviours and life-styles which have contributed to their ageing-well-phenotype and which link with important public health messages.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. i.rea@qub.ac.uk.|School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK. i.rea@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Irene Maeve
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Rea
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.|Centre for Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queens University Belfast , Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dellet
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.|Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
authors.forename: Ken I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Mills
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D004032:Diet; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D057890:Epigenomics / Q000379:methods; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000235:genetics*; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior
keywords: Diet; Epigenetics; Exercise; Frailty; Longevity; Resilience