Department of Family Medicine, Chung-Ang University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Pediatr Res. 2020 May;87(6):1060-1065. doi: 10.1038/s41390-019-0699-7. Epub 2019 Nov 29.
Leukocyte telomere length (LTL), an indicator of aging, is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors; however, its heritability is unknown. We determined heritability and inheritance patterns of telomere length across three generations of families.
We analyzed 287 individuals from three generations of 41 Korean families, including newborns, parents, and grandparents. LTL (the ratio of telomere repeat copy number to single gene copy number) was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. We estimated heritability using the SOLAR software maximum-likelihood variance component methods and a pedigree dataset. With adjustment for age and length of marriage, Pearson's partial correlation was performed for spousal pairs.
Heritability of LTL was high in all participants (h = 0.64). There were no significant differences in correlation coefficients of telomere length between paternal and maternal lines. There was a positive LTL correlation in grandfather-grandmother pairs (r = 0.25, p = 0.03) but not in father-mother pairs. After adjusting for age and length of marriage, the relationship between telomere lengths in grandfathers and grandmothers disappeared. There were inverse correlations between spousal rank differences of telomere length and length of marriage.
LTL is highly heritable without a sex-specific inheritance pattern and may be influenced by a shared environment.
白细胞端粒长度（LTL）是衰老的一个指标，受遗传和环境因素的影响；然而，其遗传率尚不清楚。我们确定了三代家庭中端粒长度的遗传率和遗传模式。
我们分析了来自 41 个韩国家庭的三代 287 个人，包括新生儿、父母和祖父母。通过实时定量 PCR 测量 LTL（端粒重复序列数与单基因拷贝数的比值）。我们使用 SOLAR 软件最大似然方差分量方法和一个家系数据集来估计遗传率。在调整年龄和婚姻长度后，对配偶对进行 Pearson 部分相关分析。
所有参与者的 LTL 遗传率均较高（h=0.64）。父系和母系之间的端粒长度相关系数没有显著差异。祖父-祖母对之间存在正的 LTL 相关性（r=0.25，p=0.03），但父亲-母亲对之间没有。在调整年龄和婚姻长度后，祖父和祖母之间的端粒长度关系消失了。端粒长度的配偶等级差异与婚姻长度之间存在反比关系。
LTL 具有高度遗传性，没有性别特异性遗传模式，可能受共享环境的影响。
