DNA Traits · Nutrition & metabolism

Beta-carotene level

The blood level of beta-carotene, the orange plant pigment the body can turn into vitamin A.

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Evidence · Replicated

What the research found

In the cited research, the G allele at rs6564851 was associated with higher circulating beta-carotene in the studied cohorts.

TT: Lower average
GT: Middle
GG: Higher average

Modest effect

What the study found

In the study, each copy went with higher beta-carotene in the blood on average.

Italian adults (InCHIANTI), the discovery sample whose Table 2 row the SD figure matches · Results (paragraph following Figure 1)

Evidence: Genome-wide association with independent replication
Who was studied: Italian adults with replication in US women and Finnish men

1000 Genomes Project

How common each genotype is

How common each genotype is in the 1000 Genomes Project, by region
Region	TTLower average	GTMiddle	GGHigher average
All regions2,504 people	25%	45%	30%
Africa661 people	43%	46%	11%
The Americas347 people	21%	50%	28%
East Asia504 people	3%	30%	66%
Europe503 people	25%	51%	24%
South Asia489 people	27%	48%	25%

Among the 2,504 people of the 1000 Genomes Project, in five world regions. These percentages describe groups of people, never anyone’s chance of having a trait.

Ancient genomes

Through time

How often the studied letter was read in ancient people, era by era, in the region chosen.

Region

Through time: Europe
Before farmingbefore 6500 BC	77%65 of 84 copies read
First farmers6500 to 3000 BC	47%308 of 660 copies read
Bronze Age3000 to 1200 BC	56%318 of 571 copies read
Iron Age and Antiquity1200 BC to AD 600	53%619 of 1,178 copies read
Middle AgesAD 600 to 1500	53%659 of 1,243 copies read
Today1000 Genomes	50%498 of 1,006 copies

Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes

Altai Neanderthal: No copies
Vindija Neanderthal: No copies
Chagyrskaya Neanderthal: No copies
Denisovan: No copies

Neanderthals and Denisovans carried the other letter, so this letter is younger than our split with them.

For most ancient people only one of their two copies can be read, so these counts are copies read, not people. Close relatives, repeated samples and samples the archive marks as unreliable are left out. Ancient genomes from the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR v66): 15,136 people.

rs6564851

The marker

Gene or region: BCO1 (BCMO1) region
Marker: rs6564851
Location: Chromosome 16 · GRCh37 81,264,597 · GRCh38 81,230,992
Letters studied: G and T, with G as the studied allele

A DNA Traits report reads this marker in your raw DNA file and shows which of the three genotypes is yours, with how common it is. It counts the copies of the studied allele; it does not measure the trait itself.

Marker: BCO1 (BCMO1) region · rs6564851
Location: Chromosome 16 · GRCh37 81,264,597 · GRCh38 81,230,992
Studied allele: G
Published statistic: Per G allele on log beta-carotene: InCHIANTI 0.160 (SE 0.024), P 9.7e-11, N 1,171; WHAS 0.199 (0.042), P 2.6e-6, N 602; ATBC 0.13 (0.020), P 1.1e-10, N 2,108; meta-analysis 0.149 (0.015), P 1.6e-24, N 3,881 (Table 2). 0.26 (0.18 to 0.34) SD per G (Results). G also lower lutein (0.28 SD), zeaxanthin (0.15 SD), lycopene (0.10 SD), higher alpha-carotene (0.13 SD); no association with retinol (Results, Table 3); 0.26 SD per copy (Results (paragraph following Figure 1))
1000 Genomes Project phase 3, people with 0, 1 and 2 copies: All regions 631 / 1123 / 750 · Africa 284 / 303 / 74 · The Americas 74 / 175 / 98 · East Asia 17 / 153 / 334 · Europe 125 / 258 / 120 · South Asia 131 / 234 / 124

See this card in the sample report

Limits

What it cannot tell you

Beta-carotene in blood follows the diet closely, and in the same study this marker showed no link with retinol, the blood form of vitamin A.

Common variation in the beta-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase 1 gene affects circulating levels of carotenoids: a genome-wide association study (Ferrucci et al., 2009)

The same topic

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