RNA Editing Genes Associated with Extreme Old Age in Humans and with Lifespan in C. elegans

The strong familiality of living to extreme ages suggests that human longevity is genetically regulated. The majority of genes found thus far to be associated with longevity primarily function in lipoprotein metabolism and insulin/IGF-1 signaling. There are likely many more genetic modifiers of human longevity that remain to be discovered.Here, we first show that 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the RNA editing genes ADARB1 and ADARB2 are associated with extreme old age in a U.S. based study of centenarians, the New England Centenarian Study. We describe replications of these findings in three independently conducted centenarian studies with different genetic backgrounds (Italian, Ashkenazi Jewish and Japanese) that collectively support an association of ADARB1 and ADARB2 with longevity. Some SNPs in ADARB2 replicate consistently in the four populations and suggest a strong effect that is independent of the different genetic backgrounds and environments. To evaluate the functional association of these genes with lifespan, we demonstrate that inactivation of their orthologues adr-1 and adr-2 in C. elegans reduces median survival by 50%. We further demonstrate that inactivation of the argonaute gene, rde-1, a critical regulator of RNA interference, completely restores lifespan to normal levels in the context of adr-1 and adr-2 loss of function.Our results suggest that RNA editors may be an important regulator of aging in humans and that, when evaluated in C. elegans, this pathway may interact with the RNA interference machinery to regulate lifespan

A hierarchical and modular approach to the discovery of robust associations in genome-wide association studies from pooled DNA samples

[Background] One of the challenges of the analysis of pooling-based genome wide association studies is to identify authentic associations among potentially thousands of false positive associations. [Results] We present a hierarchical and modular approach to the analysis of genome wide genotype data that incorporates quality control, linkage disequilibrium, physical distance and gene ontology to identify authentic associations among those found by statistical association tests. The method is developed for the allelic association analysis of pooled DNA samples, but it can be easily generalized to the analysis of individually genotyped samples. We evaluate the approach using data sets from diverse genome wide association studies including fetal hemoglobin levels in sickle cell anemia and a sample of centenarians and show that the approach is highly reproducible and allows for discovery at different levels of synthesis. [Conclusion] Results from the integration of Bayesian tests and other machine learning techniques with linkage disequilibrium data suggest that we do not need to use too stringent thresholds to reduce the number of false positive associations. This method yields increased power even with relatively small samples. In fact, our evaluation shows that the method can reach almost 70% sensitivity with samples of only 100 subjects.Supported by NHLBI grants R21 HL080463 (PS); R01 HL68970 (MHS); K-24, AG025727 (TP); K23 AG026754 (D.T.)

Genetic Signatures of Exceptional Longevity in Humans

Like most complex phenotypes, exceptional longevity is thought to reflect a combined influence of environmental (e.g., lifestyle choices, where we live) and genetic factors. To explore the genetic contribution, we undertook a genome-wide association study of exceptional longevity in 801 centenarians (median age at death 104 years) and 914 genetically matched healthy controls. Using these data, we built a genetic model that includes 281 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and discriminated between cases and controls of the discovery set with 89% sensitivity and specificity, and with 58% specificity and 60% sensitivity in an independent cohort of 341 controls and 253 genetically matched nonagenarians and centenarians (median age 100 years). Consistent with the hypothesis that the genetic contribution is largest with the oldest ages, the sensitivity of the model increased in the independent cohort with older and older ages (71% to classify subjects with an age at death>102 and 85% to classify subjects with an age at death>105). For further validation, we applied the model to an additional, unmatched 60 centenarians (median age 107 years) resulting in 78% sensitivity, and 2863 unmatched controls with 61% specificity. The 281 SNPs include the SNP rs2075650 in TOMM40/APOE that reached irrefutable genome wide significance (posterior probability of association = 1) and replicated in the independent cohort. Removal of this SNP from the model reduced the accuracy by only 1%. Further in-silico analysis suggests that 90% of centenarians can be grouped into clusters characterized by different “genetic signatures” of varying predictive values for exceptional longevity. The correlation between 3 signatures and 3 different life spans was replicated in the combined replication sets. The different signatures may help dissect this complex phenotype into sub-phenotypes of exceptional longevity

Fetal hemoglobin in sickle cell anemia: Bayesian modeling of genetic associations

We genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in: (1) the β-globin gene-like cluster, (2) quantitative trait loci (QTL) previously associated with fetal hemoglobin (HbF) concentration on chromosomes 6q, 8q, and Xp, and (3) candidate genes that could effect HbF levels, in sickle cell anemia subjects. HbF concentration was modeled as a continuous variable with values in a finite interval using a novel Bayesian approach. We first tested the associations of SNPs with HbF in a group of 1,518 adults and children (CSSCD study), and validated the results in a second independent group of 211 adults (MSH study). In subjects aged ≥24 years, 5 SNPs in TOX(8q12.1), 2 SNPs in the β-globin gene-like cluster, 2 SNPs in the Xp QTL, and 1 SNP in chromosome 15q22 were associated with HbF in the CSSCD and also validated in the MSH. Four other SNPs in 15q22 were associated with HbF only in the larger CSSCD data. When patients aged \u3c24 years in the CSSCD were examined, additional genes, including 4 with roles in nitric oxide metabolism, were associated with HbF level. These studies confirm prior analyses using traditional analytical approaches showing associations of SNPs in TOX, GPM6B, and the β-globin gene-like cluster with HbF levels. We also identified an additional candidate regulatory region in chromosome 15q22 that is associated with HbF level. By stratifying patients by age, our results also suggest that different genes might modulate the rate of decline of HbF and the final level of HbF levels in sickle cell anemia. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Genetic signatures of exceptional longevity in humans.

Like most complex phenotypes, exceptional longevity is thought to reflect a combined influence of environmental (e.g., lifestyle choices, where we live) and genetic factors. To explore the genetic contribution, we undertook a genome-wide association study of exceptional longevity in 801 centenarians (median age at death 104 years) and 914 genetically matched healthy controls. Using these data, we built a genetic model that includes 281 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and discriminated between cases and controls of the discovery set with 89% sensitivity and specificity, and with 58% specificity and 60% sensitivity in an independent cohort of 341 controls and 253 genetically matched nonagenarians and centenarians (median age 100 years). Consistent with the hypothesis that the genetic contribution is largest with the oldest ages, the sensitivity of the model increased in the independent cohort with older and older ages (71% to classify subjects with an age at death>102 and 85% to classify subjects with an age at death>105). For further validation, we applied the model to an additional, unmatched 60 centenarians (median age 107 years) resulting in 78% sensitivity, and 2863 unmatched controls with 61% specificity. The 281 SNPs include the SNP rs2075650 in TOMM40/APOE that reached irrefutable genome wide significance (posterior probability of association = 1) and replicated in the independent cohort. Removal of this SNP from the model reduced the accuracy by only 1%. Further in-silico analysis suggests that 90% of centenarians can be grouped into clusters characterized by different "genetic signatures" of varying predictive values for exceptional longevity. The correlation between 3 signatures and 3 different life spans was replicated in the combined replication sets. The different signatures may help dissect this complex phenotype into sub-phenotypes of exceptional longevity

The reproducibility of the allele frequency estimates is shown by the scatter plot of repeated estimates of allele frequency inferred from pooled DNA samples (left)

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "A hierarchical and modular approach to the discovery of robust associations in genome-wide association studies from pooled DNA samples"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/9/6</p><p>BMC Genetics 2008;9():6-6.</p><p>Published online 14 Jan 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2248205.</p><p></p> The labels "run 1" and "run 2" in the x- and y-axis specify each replication. The accuracy of the allele frequency estimates is shown by the scatter plot of the estimates of allele frequency inferred from pooled DNA samples (y-axis in the right plots) and those computed from individually genotyped samples (x-axis). The analysis of the other chromosomes shows similar results