When Maria Branyas Morera died last year at 117 years and 168 days old, she was the oldest known person in the world. Before she died, she asked doctors to study her.

Dr. Manel Esteller, chairman of Genetics at the University of Barcelona's School of Medicine, spent three years analyzing Branyas' health. A study , published online Wednesday, by Esteller and a cohort of colleagues found that a mix of factors contributed to Branyas' longevity.

"The conclusion is that the clues for extreme longevity are a mix between what we inherited from our parents and what we do in our lives," Esteller said. "And this mix, the percentage depends, but it can be ... half and half."

Branyas "had very good genes that protect against many disorders, many genetic variants that nobody has seen before,"

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