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The research reexamines decades of twin and family data that had suggested a limited genetic role in lifespan.
By Shula Rosen
Genetics may account for roughly half of the differences in how long people live, far more than the long-accepted estimates of 10% to 25%, according to new research from the Weizmann Institute of Science published in Science.
The study, led by doctoral student Ben Shenhav in the laboratory of Prof. Uri Alon at the Sagol Center for Longevity Research, reexamines decades of twin and family data that had suggested a limited genetic role in lifespan.
Those earlier analyses, Shenhav said, were skewed by high rates of death from infections, accidents and violence in earlier eras.
“Life expectancy is the average length of a person’s life,” Shenhav told Ynet. “It has risen dramatically over the past 150 years, by more than 30 years. In the past it was under 50, and today it is over 80 in developed countries like Israel.” He added that the shift was driven mainly by sanitation, antibiotics and lower child mortality rather than changes in aging itself.
To revisit the genetics question, the team built a mathematical model of aging that simulates how damage accumulates and is cleared in the body over time. Using this framework, they created virtual twins whose biological parameters could be controlled while eliminating deaths from external causes.
When those factors were removed, “We saw that genetics accounted for about 50%,” Shenhav said.
The researchers then tested the model’s prediction against real data from Swedish twins born between 1920 and 1930, when external mortality was already lower. The pattern held: “Heritability increases as external mortality decreases.”
Shenhav stressed that the findings do not diminish the role of daily habits. “First of all, the conclusion is not that lifestyle and exercise are unimportant, absolutely not,” he said. “Even if genetics accounts for 50%, that leaves another 50% that is not genetic, which is huge.”
The study, he added, provides a stronger foundation for future work on the genetic basis of longevity and the search for protective mechanisms that allow some individuals to reach advanced age in good health.
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