Longevity candidate genes and their association with personality traits in the elderly
Year: 2011
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Human longevity and personality traits are both heritable and are consistently linked at the phenotypic level. We test the hypothesis that candidate genes influencing longevity in lower organisms are associated with variance in the five major dimensions of human personality (measured by the NEO-FFI and IPIP inventories) plus related mood states of anxiety and depression. Seventy single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in six brain expressed, longevity candidate genes (AFG3L2, FRAP1, MAT1A, MAT2A, SYNJ1, and SYNJ2) were typed in over 1,000 70-year old participants from the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936 (LBC1936). No SNPs were associated with the personality and psychological distress traits at a Bonferroni corrected level of significance (P < 0.0002), but there was an over-representation of nominally significant (P < 0.05) SNPs in the synaptojanin-2 (SYNJ2) gene associated with agreeableness and symptoms of depression. Eight SNPs which showed nominally significant association across personality measurement instruments were tested in an extremely large replication sample of 17,106 participants. SNP rs350292, in SYNJ2, was significant: the minor allele was associated with an average decrease in NEO agreeableness scale scores of 0.25 points, and 0.67 points in the restricted analysis of elderly cohorts (most aged >60 years). Because we selected a specific set of longevity genes based on functional genomics findings, further research on other longevity gene candidates is warranted to discover whether they are relevant candidates for personality and psychological distress traits.
DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32013
Authors: Michelle Luciano, Lorna M. Lopez, Marleen H.M. de Moor, Sarah E. Harris, Gail Davies, Teresa Nutile, Robert F. Krueger, Tõnu Esko, David Schlessinger, Tanaka Toshiko, Jaime L. Derringer, Anu Realo, Narelle K. Hansell, Michele L. Pergadia, Anu‐Katriina Pesonen, Serena Sanna, Antonio Terracciano, Pamela A.F. Madden, Brenda Penninx, Philip Spinhoven, Catherina A. Hartman, Ben A. Oostra, A. Cecile J.W. Janssens, Johan G. Eriksson, John M. Starr, Alessandra Cannas, Luigi Ferrucci, Andres Metspalu, Margeret J. Wright, Andrew C. Heath, Cornelia M. van Duijn, Laura J. Bierut, Katri Raikkonen, Nicholas G. Martin, Marina Ciullo, Dan Rujescu, Dorret I. Boomsma, Ian J. Deary
Institutions: University of Edinburgh, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Estonian Biocentre, University of Tartu, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Helsinki, Institute of Genetic and Biomedical Research, National Research Council, Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Leiden University, University Medical Center Groningen, Erasmus MC, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1563295086, G2561471519, Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment, G363841575, G3799582765, G4641403149, Biology of Aging Training Grant, G6129226368, Basic Research in Personality: Molecular Genetics of Personality, FAMILY STUDY OF COCAINE DEPENDENCE, A genome-wide association study of non-pathological cognitive ageing, Basic Research in Personality: Molecular Genetics of Personality, Training in the Neurobiology of Aging, G9000032572, G9000121432, G9000184121, G9000244103
OpenAlex ID: W2137203502