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Sex and Longevity: Sexuality, Gender, Reproduction, Parenthood pp 43–57Cite as

Genes and Centenarians

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Part of the book series: Research and Perspectives in Longevity ((RPL))

Abstract

It has been purported that aging was due to the interaction of many genes, perhaps eight to ten thousand, with weak effects interacting with one another and our internal and external environments. Yet genetic experiments in lower organisms and our own centenarian pedigree data indicate that at least a few genes may exist that exert a powerful influence upon longevity. Experiments C. elegans, Drosophila and yeast show that the manipulation of one or a few different genes can result in the doubling to quintupling of life span. We have found that a sibling of a centenarian has a four to five times greater chance of reaching his/her early nineties compared to the sibling of someone who died his/her early 70s (Hitt 1999).

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Authors
  1. T. Perls
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  2. R. Fretts
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  3. M. Daly
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  4. S. Brewster
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  5. L. Kunkel
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  6. A. Puca
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Val d’Aurelle, Equipe INSERM Démographie et Santé, Parc Euromédecine, 34298 Montpellier cedex 5, France

    Jean-Marie Robine

  2. Department of Gerontology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 6BE, UK

    Thomas B. L. Kirkwood

  3. Wolfson Research Centre, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 6BE, UK

    Thomas B. L. Kirkwood

  4. Fondation IPSEN, 24, rue Erlanger, 75781 Paris Cedex 16, France

    Michel Allard

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Perls, T., Fretts, R., Daly, M., Brewster, S., Kunkel, L., Puca, A. (2001). Genes and Centenarians. In: Robine, JM., Kirkwood, T.B.L., Allard, M. (eds) Sex and Longevity: Sexuality, Gender, Reproduction, Parenthood. Research and Perspectives in Longevity. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59558-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59558-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64026-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59558-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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