Download A Glimpse of Your Genome

 A Glimpse of Your Genome Answer the questions below and use the 23andMe’s site to find your likely genotype. 1. Do you have wet earwax? 2. Do you enjoy Brussels sprouts? 3. Would you rather run a 100m dash or a marathon? 4. Does your urine smell funky after you eat asparagus? 5. Find it hard to keep those eyes open in the morning without that cup of coffee? 6. Are you covered in freckles? 7. Do you sneeze when you enter bright light? A Glimpse of Your Genome 1. Do you have wet earwax? If you answered “yes,” your genotype is either CC or CT at the rs17822931 marker located in the ABCC11 gene. If you have dry earwax, your genotype is TT. Along with bellybutton lint and mucus, earwax, also known as cerumen, is something that most people do their best to get rid of on a regular basis. Earwax is made of debris such as skin cells and shampoo, held together by oily, waxy substances, which are secreted by glands in your ear. Though earwax tends to get a bad rap, it actually helps to keep your ear canal clean by trapping dirt and dust that gets into your ear and moving it out. Interestingly, earwax actually comes in two flavors ­ ahem ­ types: wet (sticky, honey­colored), and dry (flaky, grayish­yellow). Earwax type is a Mendelian trait, which means it follows the simple laws of genetics discovered by the monk and father of genetics, Gregor Mendel. 2. Do you enjoy Brussels sprouts? If you answered “yes,” your genotype is likely CC at the rs713598 marker located in the TAS2R38 gene. Can’t stand bitter flavors? You’re likely GG or CG. About 25% of people are unable to taste a chemical called prophylthiouracil (PROP) similar to the bitter components found in cabbage, raw broccoli, coffee, tonic water, and dark beers. These people are essentially “taste­blind” ­ and compared to those who do respond to PROP, taste­blind people find most food and drink to be less bitter, or not bitter at all. It turns out that sensitivity to this kind of taste is due almost entirely to a single gene that encodes receptors in taste buds on the tongue. 3. Would you rather run a 100m dash or a marathon? If you answered “a 100m dash,” your genotype is likely CC or CT at the rs1815739 marker in the ACTN3 gene. Prefer a long run? Your genotype is likely TT. Athletic performance can be influenced by a number of factors, some of which are genetic. Genes determine between 20­80% of the variation in traits like oxygen intake, cardiac performance, and muscle fiber composition. To date, more than 150 genes have been linked to different aspects of physical performance. One of the clearest associations is seen with a gene called ACTN3 that is normally turned on in a type of muscle fiber used for power­based sports. A single SNP can turn this gene off. While this genetic change does not cause any health effects, it may contribute to whether you are a sprinter or a marathoner. 4. Does your urine smell funky after you eat asparagus? If you answered “yes,” your genotype is likely AA at the rs4481887 marker. People with genotype AA have substantially higher odds of smelling asparagus in their urine. Genotype AG means moderately higher odds, while genotype GG translates to typical odds. Each copy of A at this SNP increases a person’s odds of being able to smell asparagus in their urine by about 1.67 times compared to people with two G’s. Some people are able to detect a distinct smell in their urine after eating asparagus, while other people don’t notice a thing. Those who do catch a whiff liken the smell to rotten or boiling cabbage. The odor is thought to be due to an excreted metabolite called methanethiol, a sulfur­containing compound. Whether smelling the asparagus scent in urine is due to the ability to produce methanethiol, or the ability to detect it, hasn’t quite been figured out yet. 5. Find it hard to keep those eyes open in the morning without that cup of coffee? If you answered “yes,”, your genotype is likely TT or CT at the rs2472297 marker. People with the genotype TT or CT who drink coffee consume a slightly higher amount of coffee per day than people with genotype CC. Researchers found that each copy of a T at rs2472297 was associated with about 0.25 more cups of coffee consumed per day. Ninety percent of people consume caffeine on a daily basis worldwide, making it the most commonly used stimulant. Tea is the most popular, but coffee is more commonly consumed in developed countries, with 150 million regular coffee drinkers in the United States alone. 6. Are you covered in freckles? If you answered “yes,” your genotype is likely TT at the rs2153271 marker located in the BNC2 gene. People with CT have a typical amount of freckling, while people with CC have less freckling on average. Researchers at 23andMe found that people with the C version of rs2153271 exhibited less freckling than people with the T version. Freckles are areas of skin that have an increased amount of a pigment called melanin. They are small and flat, and develop over time on exposed areas of skin as a result of repeated exposure to the sun. Individuals with light skin are more likely to get freckles. 7. Do you sneeze when you enter bright light? If you answered “yes,” your genotype is likely CC at the rs10427255 marker. CT means typical odds and TT means lower odds of photic sneeze reflex. Each copy of the C version at rs10427255 increases one’s odds of photic sneeze reflex by about 1.3 times. The “photic sneeze reflex” refers to the tendency to sneeze when moving from relative darkness into bright light ­ most often sunlight. For many people there are just two or three sneezes, but one researcher documented up to 43! No one really knows what causes these un­induced sneezes. No matter what the cause, the photic sneeze reflex, or “ACHOO syndrome,” is pretty common. So much so that it’s even alluded to in the Berenstain Bears children’s books.