Blockade genes
Science told about the research of a St. Petersburg scientist about,
that Leningraders were able to survive the blockade because of good genetics
The corresponding assumption was published by the journal Science, citing the work of geneticist Oleg Glotov from the D. O. Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology (Did good genes help people outlast brutal Leningrad siege?).
Journalists Yulia Smirnova and Angelina Davydova told the magazine about Glotov's research. They drew attention to the publication of the interim results of the scientist's research, which appeared in the journal "Saint Petersburg University", after which they contacted the editorial office of Science, pointing them to the article.
Glotov studied the genotype of 206 veterans who survived the siege of Leningrad, and found out that most of these people have three variants of alleles (different forms of the same gene located in the same sections of chromosomes) associated with a more economical metabolism, which may be due to the body's low need for calories. (Two of these genes belong to the PPAR family, one to the UCP–VM group.)
Geneticist Stephen O'Brien from the St. Petersburg Center for Genomic Bioinformatics named after F. G. Dobrzhansky, commenting on the work of a colleague, said that the discovery is "very interesting", but because of the relatively small number of survivors, it is difficult to draw a general conclusion from the analysis of their genome.
According to Smirnova, Glotov plans to continue studying the issue of survival during the siege of Leningrad. All the collected material is stored in the biobank, which begins its work on the basis of St. Petersburg State University.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru09.06.2015