Bengaluru: Levita de Deus Nunes, 109, Zoraide de Deus Mota, 104, and Zulina de Deus Nunes, 103, were certified by Guinness World Records earlier this month as the oldest living trio of siblings in the world, with a combined age of 316 years. Now, researchers want to know how.
The sisters have been enrolled in the DNA Longevo Project, formally titled Longevidade Saudável: Quais são os segredos? (Healthy Longevity: What Are the Secrets?). The project, led by geneticist Mayana Zatz at the University of São Paulo’s Human Genome Research Centre, is mapping the genomic, molecular and cellular profiles of Brazilians who have aged healthily into their nineties, hundreds and beyond.
Centenarians and nonagenarians are studied alongside people of similar age who developed frailty, cognitive decline or chronic disease, to isolate whatever it is that sets them apart.
“Through DNA testing, we look for protective genes, and we know there are several of them,” Zatz told Reuters. “The more people we have who live past 100, especially families with multiple centenarians, the more accurate our research will be in identifying them.”
The three sisters are an unusually valuable find. Familial clusters of extreme longevity are rare, and studying them allows researchers to disentangle genetic inheritance from lifestyle coincidence. Brazil’s highly mixed population—the product of centuries of migration from Africa, Europe and Indigenous communities—adds another layer of scientific value. Its genetic diversity makes rare protective variants easier to detect than in more uniform cohorts.
The project has already enrolled over 160 centenarians, including roughly 20 validated supercentenarians. Its previous participants have included nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, recognised once as the world’s oldest living person, who died in April 2025 at 116.
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An active childhood
The sisters’ lives resist any single explanation for their longevity. Levita, born on 7 June 1917 in Cedro de São João, never married and had no children; she spent twelve years working at Rede Globo Television. Zoraide, born in November 1921, trained as a nurse at the Anna Nery School of Nursing, worked in hospitals and raised five children. Zulina, the youngest at 103, had six children and eventually relocated to Rio to be closer to her siblings. That proximity—the sisters living near each other in the same city—is itself something researchers are paying attention to, as social support networks are increasingly understood as a factor in healthy ageing.
Speaking to Reuters, they credit their longevity to a healthy diet and an active lifestyle.
Zulina said they spent their childhood swimming and fishing in rivers. “Everything was fresh. We didn’t have a refrigerator,” she told Reuters.
“Breastfeeding is incredibly important,” Zoraide added.
The broader question the DNA Longevo Project is chasing is not just how to live longer — it is how to live longer without the deterioration that makes old age difficult. The sisters are one data point in a much larger puzzle.