Science & Nature

A family affair

By team ⋅ March 27, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

The New Scientist, 26th January

Inbreeding may be the key to longevity. ‘Everyone knows that inbreeding is bad – it increases your chances of catching a range of diseases’, says Giuseppe Passarino of the University of Calabria in Rende, Italy. However he adds that ‘our study suggests that if inbreds don’t get those diseases when they’re young, they might have a better chance of long life.’

Passario’s team used a census of data in an isolated region of southern Italy where many people shared the same surname, suggesting that marriage between related individuals was common. In a small inbred community, the gene pool remains the same and increases the chances that an individual will be ‘homozygous’ with two identical copies of a gene.
‘Longevity seems to be linked to homozygosity’ Passarino claims. This may be because certain copies of the gene boost lifespan and carrying two of them doubles the benefit.