Evidence · Not yet replicated

What the research found

In the cited research, the C allele at rs2080401 was associated with more attached, rather than detached, earlobes in the studied cohort.

AA: Less attached
AC: Middle
CC: More attached

Modest effect

What the study found

In the study, each copy went with earlobe attachment rating from photos, on a three level scale from attached to detached about 0.07 points lower on average.

Admixed Latin American CANDELA participants from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru · 4,919 people · Supplementary Table 8B (rs2080401, lobe attachment)

Evidence: Discovery GWAS of ordinal ear morphology
Who was studied: Admixed Latin American CANDELA participants from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru

1000 Genomes Project

How common each genotype is

How common each genotype is in the 1000 Genomes Project, by region
Region	AALess attached	ACMiddle	CCMore attached
All regions2,504 people	39%	46%	15%
Africa661 people	38%	48%	14%
The Americas347 people	21%	44%	35%
East Asia504 people	51%	42%	7%
Europe503 people	43%	46%	11%
South Asia489 people	36%	48%	16%

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	36%39 of 109 copies read
First farmers6500 to 3000 BC	32%348 of 1,102 copies read
Bronze Age3000 to 1200 BC	33%358 of 1,075 copies read
Iron Age and Antiquity1200 BC to AD 600	35%607 of 1,752 copies read
Middle AgesAD 600 to 1500	35%500 of 1,442 copies read
Today1000 Genomes	34%341 of 1,006 copies

Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes

Altai Neanderthal: 2 copies
Vindija Neanderthal: 2 copies
Chagyrskaya Neanderthal: 2 copies
Denisovan: 2 copies

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.

rs2080401

The marker

Gene or region: 2q31.1 region
Marker: rs2080401
Location: Chromosome 2 · GRCh37 171,540,823 · GRCh38 170,684,313
Letters studied: A and C, with C 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: 2q31.1 region · rs2080401
Location: Chromosome 2 · GRCh37 171,540,823 · GRCh38 170,684,313
Studied allele: C
Published statistic: beta -0.071 per C allele on the 0 (attached) to 2 (detached) rating, P 9e-12 (Results), country meta-analysis P 1.9e-11 (Supplementary Table 6), n 4,919; the same C also lowers lobe size (beta -0.096, P 1e-10) (Supplementary Table 8B (rs2080401, lobe attachment))
1000 Genomes Project phase 3, people with 0, 1 and 2 copies: All regions 980 / 1146 / 378 · Africa 254 / 316 / 91 · The Americas 73 / 152 / 122 · East Asia 259 / 211 / 34 · Europe 216 / 233 / 54 · South Asia 178 / 234 / 77

See this card in the sample report

Limits

What it cannot tell you

This small association concerns an ordinal ear-shape feature rated in photographs. Ear shape depends on many genes; this single marker cannot tell you your ear shape and does not follow a simple dominant or recessive rule. Only the studied A/C allele pair is interpreted.

A genome-wide association study identifies multiple loci for variation in human ear morphology (Adhikari et al., 2015)

The same topic

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