MUTATION LOAD AND HUMAN LONGEVITY

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 l ongevity was studied on 8,518 adult persons (at age 30 and above) from European aristocratic families with well-known genealogy. The daughte rs born to old fathers (50-59 years) lose about 4.4 years of their lif e compared to daughters of young fathers (20-29 years) and these losse s are highly statistically significant, while sons are not significant ly affected. Since only daughters inherit the paternal X chromosome, t his sex-specific decrease in daughters' longevity might indicate that human longevity genes (crucial, house-keeping genes) sensitive to muta tional load might be located in this chromosome.