The authors thank Stephanie Brewster, Stevan Obradovic, Stacy Andersen, and Thomas Perls for providing DNA samples and phenotype information. They also thank Eric Boyden, Lynn Boyden, and Karen Mowrer for helpful discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. The study was conceived and designed by SEB LMK. SEB performed the experiments and analyzed the data. SEB LMK wrote the paper.

The study makes an important contribution to the analysis of both linkage and association studies on exceptional longevity. However, further research is needed to identify rare variants that influence lifespan since multiple variants exert individual effects too weak to be detected by association methods.This text appears to be a list of scientific articles discussing various aspects of genetics and longevity. As such, there are no clear errors or corrections to be made. However, the formatting and readability could be improved by separating each article into its own line and providing additional context or information about the content of each article.Kok FJ, Vandenbroucke JP, et al. (1994) QT interval prolongation predicts cardiovascular mortality in apparently healthy population. Circulation. Puddu PE, Bourassa MG (1991) Prediction of sudden death from QTc prolongation in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease. J Electrocardiol. Barr CS, Naas A, Freeman M, Lang CC, Struthers AD (1994) QT and sudden unexpected death in chronic heart failure. Lancet. Gessert CE, Elliott BA, Haller IV (1997) Dying of old age: an examination of death certificates of Minnesota centenarians. J Am Geriatr Soc. Mohler PJ, Healy JA, Xue H, Puca AA, Kline CF, et al. (2007) Proarrhythmic consequences of a KCNQ1 AKAP complex mutation causing long-QT syndrome: enhanced cardiac repolarization currents and premature death. PLoS One. Kruglyak L, Lander ES (1995) High-resolution genetic mapping of complex traits. Am J Hum Genet. Franceschi C, Bezrukov V, Blanche H, Bolund L, Christensen K, et al. (2007) Genetics of healthy aging in Europe: the EU-integrated project GEHA (Genetics of Healthy Aging). Ann N Y Acad Sci. Roeder K, Bacanu SA, Wasserman L, Devlin B (2006) Using linkage genome scans to improve power of association in genome scans. Am J Hum Genet 78: 243-252.