The World's Oldest Living People are the Same Despite Extreme Longevity

It turns out that having good or bad genes actually doesn't influence whether you'll live longer or not. Using fewer than 20 genes, scientists were unable to find rare protein-altering variants that were significantly associated with extreme longevity.

Men and women who live to be beyond 110 years of age are the oldest living humans. Currently, 74 supercentenarians are alive worldwide, with 22 living in the U.S. In order to see whether these supercentenarians had anything in common in terms of genetics, the scientists performed whole-genome sequencing on 17 supercentenarians.

So what did they find? It turns out that there weren't really any differences. In fact, the scientists were unable to find rare protein-altering variants that were significantly associated with extreme longevity compared to control genomes. However, they did find that one supercentenarian carried a variant associated with a heart conditions that had little to no effect on the person's health.

The findings reveal that for now, it seems that there is no actual difference between those who live longer and those who don't. That said, the sample size was relatively small and it's possible the researchers overlooked a potential mechanism. In other words, while a possible protein or difference hasn't been found yet, that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. Currently, the genomes are publicly available as a resource for future studies on the genetic basis of extreme longevity. This could allow researchers to understand a bit more about what causes some people to live for so long while others don't.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.