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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Studying Age-dependent Genomic Instability using the S. cerevisiae Chronological Lifespan Model
Published on: September 29, 2011
Mutation load and human longevity
L A Gavrilov1, N S Gavrilova, V N Kroutko
1Center for Longevity Research at A.N. Belozersky Institute, Moscow State University, Russia. gavrilov@glas.apc.org
Abstract:
Since paternal age at reproduction is considered to be the main factor determining human spontaneous mutation rate (Crow, J. (1993) Environ. Mol. Mutagenesis, 21, 122-129), the effect of paternal age on human longevity was studied on 8,518 adult persons (at age 30 and above) from European aristocratic families with well-known genealogy. The daughters born to old fathers (50-59 years) lose about 4.4 years of their life compared to daughters of young fathers (20-29 years) and these losses are highly statistically significant, while sons are not significantly affected. Since only daughters inherit the paternal X chromosome, this sex-specific decrease in daughters' longevity might indicate that human longevity genes (crucial, house-keeping genes) sensitive to mutational load might be located in this chromosome.
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