Italian centenarians inherit a higher proportion of DNA from ancient hunter-gatherers than the general population, according to a new study that may help better understand aging.
Previous research has shown that “good” genes inherited from ancestors, combined with other factors such as environment and daily habits, can help people live longer.
While previous research has shown that Italy has one of the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world, the exact reasons for this remain unclear.
To understand this, scientists analyzed the genomes of more than 300 centenarians and nearly 700 healthy adults in their 50s.
The researchers then compared the DNA of these individuals to the ancient genomes of four groups that make up modern Italy.
These groups are descendants of Western hunter-gatherers, the original inhabitants of post-Ice Age Europe, as well as Anatolian Neolithic farmers, Bronze Age nomadic groups, and ancient groups from Iran and the Caucasus.
An elderly resident puts her hand on a face mask (AFP via Getty Images)
Scientists have found that people over 100 years old tend to have more Western hunter-gatherer (WHG) DNA than the average person.
“This study is the first to show that WHG ancestry… contributes to longevity in the Italian population,” the researchers wrote in the study published in the journal. jero science.
While the Italians sampled in the study carried a mixture of DNA from all four ancient groups, only WHG genetic material was found to be associated with longevity.
The study found that for every additional bit of hunter-gatherer DNA, a person’s chance of becoming a centenarian increased by 38%.
Studies show that if women have a higher proportion of this ancient DNA, they are more than twice as likely as men to live to be 100 years old.
“The variants we think are associated with this trait [longevity] Probably introduced into the Italian gene pool at very ancient times,” the scientists wrote.
The researchers suspect these genes may have been favored during the last ice age, when our ancestors had to survive in extremely harsh conditions with limited food resources.
Scientists suspect that some of these genes may help improve metabolism to process food more efficiently and protect the body from age-related stress.
“We find that ancestry related to Western hunter-gatherers contributes more to Italian centenarians, thus suggesting that this pre-Neolithic genetic component is associated with demographic changes that occurred within Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum and may favor longevity today,” the researchers wrote.
