A gene variant is linked to early death among three ethnically diverse groups of people.

The klotho gene - the name comes from the Greek Fate which spins the web of life - appears to be linked to life expectancy. It's already known that mice lacking, or carrying a defective copy of klotho, are more prone to age-related disease such as atherosclerosis and arthritis.

Now researchers in the US and the Czech Republic have discovered that a variant of klotho is more common among infants than among those over 65. This suggests that the variant might be linked with earlier than usual death. The study was carried out among Bohemian Czechs, Caucasians and African Americans. Having two copies of the gene variant was linked to earlier death, but having one copy seemed to lead to a longer life in the Czechs.

No-one yet knows what klotho actually does in the body, or why one copy is helpful while two are harmful. More research is needed to see what role klotho might play in conferring a long and healthy life.

Source

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online edition January 15 2002