SAN DIEGO — Some people appear to be considerably younger or older than their chronological age. Genetic signatures that may help explain this have been discovered by scientists at the Salk Institute.

The age-associated genetic patterns were found by analyzing skin cells from people of various ages, according to a study by Salk Institute scientists.

Researchers then applied the results to detect genetic signs of accelerated aging in people with progeria, a disease that causes patients to appear far older than their chronological age.

With further research, the machine learning method could be broadened to detect when people are aging faster than their chronological age, said Saket Navlakha, a senior author of the study. This could be used to treat people at risk for age-related conditions, or advise them to change lifestyle habits before diseases occur, he said.

Such clinical applications could be ready in as soon as five years, Navlakha said. To help other researchers, the scientists have made the machine learning algorithms and underlying data public.

The study was published Dec. 19 in the journal Genome Biology. Next, researchers plan to examine the age-related genetic activity of other cells. And they also plan to peek under the hood of the black-box machine learning algorithm, to determine how the age-related changes line up with biological processes.

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