Kanchibhotla Sri C, Mather Karen A, Armstrong Nicola J, Ciobanu Liliana G, Baune Bernhard T, Catts Vibeke S, Schofield Peter R, Trollor Julian N, Ames David, Sachdev Perminder S, Thalamuthu Anbupalam
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW 2031, Australia.
Genes (Basel). 2024 Apr 16;15(4):495. doi: 10.3390/genes15040495.
The contributions of genetic variation and the environment to gene expression may change across the lifespan. However, few studies have investigated the heritability of blood gene expression in older adults. The current study therefore aimed to investigate this question in a community sample of older adults. A total of 246 adults (71 MZ and 52 DZ twins, 69.91% females; mean age-75.79 ± 5.44) were studied. Peripheral blood gene expression was assessed using Illumina microarrays. A heritability analysis was performed using structural equation modelling. There were 5269 probes (19.9%) from 4603 unique genes (23.9%) (total 26,537 probes from 19,256 genes) that were significantly heritable (mean h = 0.40). A pathway analysis of the top 10% of significant genes showed enrichment for the immune response and ageing-associated genes. In a comparison with two other gene expression twin heritability studies using adults from across the lifespan, there were 38 out of 9479 overlapping genes that were significantly heritable. In conclusion, our study found ~24% of the available genes for analysis were heritable in older adults, with only a small number common across studies that used samples from across adulthood, indicating the importance of examining gene expression in older age groups.
基因变异和环境对基因表达的影响可能会在整个生命周期中发生变化。然而，很少有研究调查老年人血液基因表达的遗传力。因此，本研究旨在对一组老年社区样本进行该问题的调查。共研究了246名成年人（71对同卵双胞胎和52对异卵双胞胎，女性占69.91%；平均年龄75.79±5.44岁）。使用Illumina微阵列评估外周血基因表达。采用结构方程模型进行遗传力分析。共有来自4603个独特基因（占23.9%）的5269个探针（占19.9%）（总共19256个基因的26537个探针）具有显著遗传性（平均h=0.40）。对前10%的显著基因进行通路分析，结果显示免疫反应和衰老相关基因富集。与另外两项使用不同年龄段成年人的基因表达双胞胎遗传力研究相比，9479个重叠基因中有38个具有显著遗传性。总之，我们的研究发现，在老年人中，约24%的可分析基因具有遗传性，而在使用成年期不同样本的研究中，只有少数基因是共同的，这表明在老年人群中研究基因表达的重要性。
