Another Human Longevity Gene Association
The Telegraph reports on confirmation that a class of longevity genes indentified in lower animals also has an effect on human populations: "The gene linked with better health and a longer life is called FOXO3A and although similar genes have been shown to prolong life span in other species, this is the first time that FOXO has been linked directly to longevity in humans. ... Each gene comes in two copies and the team found the longevity effect of this letter was additive: those with one copy doubled their odds of living an average 98 years ... Men who had two G copies did even better and almost tripled their odds of living nearly a century, and were markedly healthier at older ages ... We screened 213 of the long-lived participants' DNA and 402 of the average-lived, focusing on five genes ... These genes were selected for good reason because they involved in the insulin pathway and signalling, which studies of other animals have shown is linked with longevity." This doesn't tell we laypeople more than we already knew: that insulin metabolism is significant in health and longevity variations within a species.
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/09/01/sciage101.xml