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Gene makes some pilots get rusty faster

Common variant affects pace of age-related decline in performance on skilled tasks

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

A genetic variant that makes small tweaks in an important brain protein may cause aging to hit some people’s brains harder than others.

Researcher Joy Taylor supervises a testing session in a flight simulator. Test scores of pilots who have a genetic variant of the brain growth factor gene BDNF declined more rapidly with age than pilots who have the normal version of the gene.