The Known Genetic Loci for Telomere Length May Be Involved in the Modification of Telomeres Length After Birth

Telomere length varies considerably among individuals. It is highly heritable and decreases with ageing or ageing related diseases. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several genetic loci associated with telomere length in adults. However, it is unclear whether these loci represent the genetic basis of telomere length or determine the individual susceptibility to shortening during growth process. Using DNA extracted from peripheral and cord blood of 444 mother-newborn pairs from a Chinese population, we measured relative telomere length (RTL) and genotyped eight known telomere length related variants that were initially identified in populations of European descent. We observed the T allele of rs10936599 and the T allele of rs2736100 were norminally associated with shorter RTL (P = 0.041 and 0.046, respectively) in maternal samples. Furthermore, the Weighted genetic score (WGS) of eight variants was significantly associated with RTL in maternal samples (R = 0.012, P = 0.025). However, we didn't detect any significant associations for any individual variant or the combined WGS with RTL in newborns. These findings didn't support the hypothesis that telomere length related loci may affect telomere length at birth, and we suggested that these loci may play a role in telomere length modification during life course.