Prince Charles is claiming that he’s related to Dracula.

“The genealogy shows that I am descended from Vlad the Impaler,” Charles said.

Vlad the Impaler was also known as Dracula, which means son of the dragon (dracul) in the Romanian dialect of the time. Vlad’s father was a member of the Order of the Dragon.

Vlad, 15th-Century Romanian warlord, also inspired the 1897 novel “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.

The heir to the British throne  was making the connection during an interview that will air as part of an upcoming TV show to promote the preservation of forests in Romania’s Transylvania region.  “So I have a bit of a stake in the country,” the prince said.

Charles, who owns a home in the region, has said Transylvania’s pristine landscapes and rural farming traditions make it a national treasure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune 100-year-old Nora Delpiaz and Regina Kloepfer smile as they talk with friends and family during the 25th Annual Centenarians Day celebration at the Multi Agency State Office Building in Salt Lake City, Utah Friday, August 26, 2011.

New York • George Eberhardt turned 107 last month, and scientists would love to know how he and other older folks like him made it that far. So he’s going to hand over some of his DNA.

He’s one of 100 centenarians taking part in a project announced Wednesday that will examine some of the oldest citizens with one of the newest scientific tools: whole-genome sequencing, the deciphering of a person’s complete collection of DNA.

Scientists think DNA from very old healthy people could offer clues to how they lived so long. And that could one day lead to medicines to help the rest of us stay disease-free longer.

By the time you reach, say, 105, “it’s very hard to get there without some genetic advantages,” said Thomas Perls, a geriatrics expert at Boston University.

Dr. Richard Cawthon at the University of Utah is working on the same puzzle, examining more limited sequencing. But the goal is the same: Build evidence that a particular gene contributes to longevity, in order to protect against multiple diseases or slow the process of aging in general.

Perls is helping find centenarians for the Archon Genomics X Prize competition. The X Prize Foundation, best known for a spaceflight competition, is offering $10 million in prize money to researchers who decipher the complete DNA code from 100 people older than 100. The contest will be judged on accuracy, completeness and the speed and cost of sequencing.

The contest is a relaunch of an older competition with a new focus on centenarians. Earlier this month, Scripps Health of San Diego announced a different genome project involving the elderly. The Scripps Wellderly Study will receive the complete genomes of 1,000 people age 80 and older from a sequencing company.

A complete genome reveals not only genes but also other DNA that’s responsible for regulating genes. It’s “the full monty,” showing DNA elements that are key for illness and health, said Eric Topol, who heads the Wellderly Study.

Participants in that study have an average age of 87 and range up to 108, and they’ve never had diabetes, heart disease or cancer, or any neurological disease.

“Why are these people Teflon-coated?” Topol asked. “Why don’t they get disease?”

The ability to turn out lots of complete genomes is “the new-new thing” in trying to find out, he said.

Cawthon and his co-researchers — medical sociologist Ken Smith at the U.’s Huntsman Cancer Institute; Richard Kerber and Elizabeth O’Brien, both epidemiologists formerly at the U. but now at the University of Louisville — are taking a different tack to answer the question Topol raises.

Starting with the Utah Population Database, they searched for clusters of extremely long-lived family members with what the researchers call “excess sharing” in their DNA. For their purposes, extremely long-lived means people who lived well beyond standard life expectancies.

The researchers are looking at genetic linkages to define the boundaries of a region they can sequence that is less extensive than the whole genome, Cawthon said. The next step is to screen unrelated long-lived people for the same DNA variant. Since the DNA they are looking at comes from people of European descent, the control group would be the general European population who have been sequenced.

“We’re looking for a DNA difference that may be causing the [longevity] trait,” Cawthon said.

For all the major killing diseases, age is the biggest single risk factor. Medicines could be developed to mimic the best version of the longevity genes.

“There’s been too much emphasis on disorders per se and not enough on the people who are exceptionally healthy,” to learn from their genomes, Topol said. “Now we have the powerful tools to do that.”

Cawthon said research dollars are better spent on aging research than on individual diseases.“If you completely eliminated cancer, you would only increase average life expectancy by three years,” he said. But slowing aging “attacks all the diseases at once.”

Between age 30 and 90, the risk of dying doubles every eight years. “There must be some molecular correlative,” he said.

People would still die, Cawthon said. But they would die of the causes that kill people in their 20s — unintentional injury, homicide, suicide, congenital illness, flu, pneumonia and other ailments not necessarily linked to old age.

Cawthon said co-researcher Smith says if people could keep their risk of dying constant with what it is in their 20s, women would live an average of 1,500 years, men an average 500 years. The difference would be due to multiple factors, including men’s higher level of risk-taking and women’s extra X chromosome.

The 107-year-old Eberhardt of Chester, N.J., played and taught tennis until he was 94. He said he’s participating in the X Prize project because he’s interested in science and technology. It’s not clear his genes will reveal much. Nobody else in his extended family reached 100, and he thinks only a couple reached 90, he said in a telephone interview.

So why does he think he lived so long? He credits 70 years of marriage to his wife, Marie. She in turn cites his “intense interest in so many things” over a lifetime, from building radios as a child to pursuing a career in electronics research.

Protective features of a centenarian’s DNA can even overcome less-than-ideal lifestyles, says Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. His own study of how centenarians live found that “as a group, they haven’t done the right things.”

Many in the group he studied were obese or overweight. Many were smokers, and few exercised or followed a vegetarian diet. His oldest participant, who died this month just short of her 110th birthday, smoked for 95 years.

“She had genes that protected her against the environment,” Barzilai said. One of her sisters died at 102, and one of her brothers is 105 and still manages a hedge fund.

Genes that protect against the environment may also protect against disease and illness, Cawthon said. But they can’t do all the work. People still have to safeguard their health. “We should not start to believe that genes are all that matter,” he said. “But if you want to get to extreme age, you need good genes.”

Tribune reporter Patty Henetz contributed to this report.

—

Online:

X Prize competition: http://genomics.xprize.org/

Wellderly Study: http://bit.ly/pHFHDj

—

Studying healthy elders

Research at the University of Utah and two other studies announced this month are looking at genetic traits of long-lived people for possible medicines of the future that could guard against all major killing diseases.

X Prize competition > http://genomics.xprize.org/

Wellderly Study > http://bit.ly/pHFHDj

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Please join Dr. Ugo Perego from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation for a free one hour webinar:

Wednesday, November 9, 2011 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM MST

The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships: This lecture will provide a general overview on how genetic testing can be of great assistance to family historians to trace, verify, expand, and link genealogical records and pedigrees. Particularly, we will cover the paternally-inherited Y chromosome and the maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA with the purposes of showing how these two markers can play a powerful role in the search for our ancestors and of our deep roots.

It’s always such a pleasure to learn from Dr. Perego -you’ll be glad you didn’t miss this opportunity!

Just go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/918002706 and remember, registration is FREE!

Last Chance for our October Family History sale! Sale runs through tomorrow October 11, 2011 at midnight.

October is Family History Month and GeneTree is having a HUGE sale to celebrate families!

Y DNA 46 marker test is now $99.00 (regular price is $179.00)
mtDNA test is now $129.00 (regular price is $179.00)

Preserve your family’s genetic record by ordering a test for you or a family member and enjoy the savings!
To order now go to http://www.genetree.com/t/categories/

Sale runs through October 11, 2011 at midnight.

Family History Month Sale

October is Family History Month and GeneTree is having a HUGE sale to celebrate families!

Y DNA 46 marker test is now *$99.00
mtDNA test is now *$129.00

* regular price is $179.00 each

Preserve your family’s genetic record by ordering a test for you or a family member and enjoy the savings!

To order now go to the Genetree Store

Sale runs through October 11, 2011.

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SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GeneTree.com today announced it has found family connections between Utah Governor Gary Herbert and some prominent historical figures, including Utah native and notorious leader of the Wild Bunch Gang Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, and Joseph Smith, Jr., the religious leader and founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“For more than a decade, GeneTree.com has been building the most robust and comprehensive collection of DNA for genealogic research purposes”

Building on personal genealogical research and DNA samples provided by Governor Herbert, GeneTree.com used its expertise in genetics and genealogy to match the governor to many individuals and family lines that had not been discovered by the Herbert family. Building on genealogical evidence, GeneTree.com researchers have confirmed that Governor Herbert is a second cousin twice removed with Cassidy. In addition, Governor Herbert’s DNA showed that his family hails from the same area in Ireland as Smith and the two likely share a common paternal ancestor.

“On a personal level, this experience has been eye-opening as I have been able to discover these previously unknown connections to my ancestors,” said Governor Herbert. “But beyond that, it is exciting to witness firsthand the advancements a Utah company is making in the biosciences, and how these new innovations are able to make a profound personal impact on the lives of millions of individuals.”

GeneTree.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, has created the world’s largest repository of correlated genetic and genealogical information, and can link customers to nearly 9 million ancestors and living relatives with its database of more than 110,000 DNA samples from more than 170 countries.

“For more than a decade, GeneTree.com has been building the most robust and comprehensive collection of DNA for genealogic research purposes,” said Scott Woodward, president of GeneTree.com. “With our database, we are building a global genetic family tree and finding unique and powerful evidence that connects each person on earth with one another. What we uncovered while exploring Governor Herbert’s genetic family history is indicative of the type of discoveries we routinely make for those who use our services, as we help them find branches on their family tree that they never even knew existed.”

GeneTree.com also prepared a detailed DNA-based family history analysis for First Lady Jeanette Herbert. These findings were presented to Governor and Mrs. Herbert today at the Utah State Capitol.

GeneTree.com offers customers a variety of specialty genetic DNA tests that assist in providing the most complete and accurate account of an individual’s family history. In addition to using DNA, GeneTree.com supplements genetic findings with research from an extensive collection of records and data, such as birth records and marriage certificates.