
Genetic secrets of the healthy elderly unveiled - tosseraccount
http://www.nature.com/news/genetic-secrets-of-the-healthy-elderly-unveiled-1.19794
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tosseraccount
Cited Journal "Cell" publication here :
[http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2816%2930278-1?...](http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2816%2930278-1?rss=yes)

Whole Genome Sequencing of a Healthy Aging Cohort.

Key quotes:

 _" The top region is a large linkage block at MHC locus 6p22.1 ... This
region contains a handful of SNPs that have been replicated and confidently
associated with cognitive traits, including rs1056667, associated with
cognitive performance"_

 _" The second sub-significant region included lead SNP rs156033 (p value =
1.7 × 10−6), in the 5q31.1 region, which contains SLC22A4 and multiple
variants ... strongly associated with carnitine and carnitine-related
metabolite levels"_

 _" third sub-significant region included lead SNP rs10209741 (p value = 7.0 ×
10−6) in the 2q36.1 region containing KCNE4 and nearby (11.4 kb) rs895767,
which was previously associated with cognitive decline"_

notes:

MHC = major histocompatibility complex, a set of cell surface proteins
essential for acquired immune system to recognize foreign molecules in
vertebrates.

carnitine = eukaryote specific nutrient involved in lipid metabolism

KCNE4 = a voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channel

SLC22A4 = integral plasma membrane protein , ergothioneine transporter. Foods
found to contain ergothioneine include liver, kidney, black beans, kidney bean
and oat bran [ wikipedia ].

