World's Oldest People Are Genetically Superior
Researchers have studied the genomes (a full set of chromosomes; all the inheritable traits of an organism) of 17 “supercentarians” (people over 110 years of age) and conclude that they have special genes that promote longevity. Lifestyle choices (smoking, alcohol consumption,...) don’t seem to matter much for those who want to reach that ages, according to a study, because they don't differ between centenarians and “Controls” (younger people who served as comparisons). Some people aged 100+ still enjoy a glass of wine, a cigar or other indulgence, although most indicate that they do it in moderation.
The researchers suspect that super old people may have "a rare protein-altering variants that attribute them longevity. These rarities should produce different proteins from ordinary people with protective effects against diseases.A possibility for the fountain-of-youth source is a gene called TSHZ3, found in genomes from subjects aged 98–105 years old. An interesting finding is that one of the supercentarians had a terrible heart disease. Some people with this disease keel over from sudden cardiac death. That didn’t happen to this woman, who reached an old age. The researchers report that there is a 19% lifetime incidence of cancer in the world’s oldest people compared to 49% in normal population. The scientists concluded that supercentarians are very rare and their genomes could hold secrets for the genetic basis of extreme longevity.”
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