Current Trends and Approaches to the Search for Genetic Determinants of Aging and Longevity

Aging is a natural process of extinction of the body and the main aspect that determines the life expectancy for individuals who have survived to the post-reproductive period. The process of aging is accompanied by certain physiological, immune, and metabolic changes in the body, as well as the development of age-related diseases. The contribution of genetic factors to human life expectancy is estimated at about 25-30%. Despite the success in identifying genes and metabolic pathways that may be involved in the life extension process in model organisms, the key question remains to what extent these data can be extrapolated to humans, for example, because of the complexity of its biological and sociocultural systems, as well as possible species differences in life expectancy and causes of mortality. New molecular genetic methods have significantly expanded the possibilities for searching for genetic factors of human life expectancy and identifying metabolic pathways of aging, the interaction of genes and transcription factors, the regulation of gene expression at the level of transcription, and epigenetic modifications. The review presents the latest research and current strategies for studying the genetic basis of human aging and longevity: the study of individual candidate genes in genetic population studies, variations identified by the GWAS method, immunogenetic differences in aging, and genomic studies to identify factors of "healthy aging." Understanding the mechanisms of the interaction between factors affecting the life expectancy and the possibility of their regulation can become the basis for developing comprehensive measures to achieve healthy longevity.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1134/S1022795422120067.

PPEF/PP7 protein Ser/Thr phosphatases

PPEF/PP7 represents one of the five subfamilies of the PPP protein Ser/Thr phosphatases. Studies published in recent years point to a role of plant PP7 at a crossroad of different pathways of light and stress signalling. In animals, PPEFs are highly expressed in sensory neurons, and Drosophila PPEF phosphatase, rdgC, is essential for dephosphorylation of rhodopsin. Expression profiling suggests that mammalian PPEF may play a role in stress-protective responses, cell survival, growth, proliferation, and oncogenesis. Despite structural similarities of the catalytic domains and the fact that some of these phosphatases are involved in light perception both in animals and in plants, the plant and non-plant representatives of this group have distinct domain architecture and appear not to be orthologues.