Dec 21, 2015 10:08 AM EST By Rashmi Kalia, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new study by researchers has revealed that the secret to a long life lies in one's genes, Northern Californian reports.

Researchers from Stanford University, who conducted the study, said that they have found four genes linked to longevity.

For the study, the researchers assessed the genomes of a number of people living in their 100 year of age. They recruited 800 people aged above 100 and over 5,000 people aged above 90 and studied genes linked to longevity.

According to the researchers, the four genes that are connected to longevity are ABO that determines the blood type of person, CDKN2B that is responsible for regulating cell division, APOE that is linked to Alzheimer's disease and the fourth one is SH2B3, which earlier has been found to increase the lifespan of fruit flies.

As per the researchers, these genes affect a person's risk of getting diagnosed with severe diseases including heart disease and dementia.

"Some genetic variants that confer protection from disease could also associate with increased lifespan, and might show enrichment in centenarians and other long-lived populations", said the researchers.

According to Medical Daily, the researchers added, "it is also plausible that centenarians carry a different genetic background than the normal population consisting of protective SNPs that predispose for extreme longevity."

Study's lead researcher Stuart Kim from Stanford University said the latest study would help support the search to locate genes that increase the chance of spreading chronic diseases in humans.

The researcher said that they would conduct further research with a hope to find out more genes in the future that are linked to long life.

 "Some genetic variants that confer protection from disease could also associate with increased lifespan, and might show enrichment in centenarians and other long-lived populations." Study reads.

According to Science Daily, the report by Kristen Fortney and colleagues, published in PLOS Genetics, is an example of employing Big Data to get information about complicated trait such as longevity.

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