Evidence · Replicated

What the research found

In the cited research, the G allele at rs72917317 was associated with blond rather than brown or black natural hair.

TT: Less often
GT: Middle
GG: More often

Modest effect

Evidence: Replicated genome-wide association
Who was studied: Primarily European ancestry

1000 Genomes Project

How common each genotype is

How common each genotype is in the 1000 Genomes Project, by region
Region	TTLess often	GTMiddle	GGMore often
All regions2,504 people	93%	7%	<1%
Africa661 people	>99%	<1%	Not seen
The Americas347 people	92%	8%	<1%
East Asia504 people	All	Not seen	Not seen
Europe503 people	74%	24%	2%
South Asia489 people	97%	3%	<1%

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	0%0 of 87 copies read
First farmers6500 to 3000 BC	2%18 of 961 copies read
Bronze Age3000 to 1200 BC	8%72 of 863 copies read
Iron Age and Antiquity1200 BC to AD 600	10%146 of 1,449 copies read
Middle AgesAD 600 to 1500	12%163 of 1,338 copies read
Today1000 Genomes	14%140 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.

rs72917317

The marker

Gene or region: TPCN2
Marker: rs72917317
Location: Chromosome 11 · GRCh37 68,817,441 · GRCh38 69,049,973
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: TPCN2 · rs72917317
Location: Chromosome 11 · GRCh37 68,817,441 · GRCh38 69,049,973
Studied allele: G
Published statistic: OR 1.545 per G (minor allele, MAF 0.1064), Z 39.23, P 2.25e-308, blonde against brown or black hair after conditioning chromosome by chromosome (Morgan Supplementary Table 4). Hysi 2018 Supplementary Table 2: 0.190 SD (UK Biobank, n 128,102) and 0.165 SD (23andMe, n 150,172) per allele toward darker hair for the allele printed as T, both P below 1e-100; VisiGen replication z 10.35, P 4.1e-25 (Supplementary Table 4 (rs72917317 row) and Methods (group sizes))
1000 Genomes Project phase 3, people with 0, 1 and 2 copies: All regions 2323 / 169 / 12 · Africa 655 / 6 / 0 · The Americas 319 / 27 / 1 · East Asia 504 / 0 / 0 · Europe 373 / 120 / 10 · South Asia 472 / 16 / 1

See this card in the sample report

Limits

What it cannot tell you

One of many markers that shape blond hair. Other TPCN2 variants are not read.

Genome-wide study of hair colour in UK Biobank explains most of the SNP heritability (Morgan et al., 2018)

The same topic

More in Appearance

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