Evidence · Replicated

What the research found

In the cited research, the A allele at rs9866054 was associated with less attached, more free-hanging earlobes.

GG: More attached
AG: Middle
AA: Less attached

Slight effect

Evidence: Multi-cohort genome-wide association with independent replication
Who was studied: European American, Latin American and Han Chinese cohorts rated by experts, replicated in 23andMe research participants of European ancestry

1000 Genomes Project

How common each genotype is

How common each genotype is in the 1000 Genomes Project, by region
Region	GGMore attached	AGMiddle	AALess attached
All regions2,504 people	51%	35%	14%
Africa661 people	92%	8%	<1%
The Americas347 people	28%	41%	31%
East Asia504 people	30%	48%	21%
Europe503 people	57%	34%	9%
South Asia489 people	29%	52%	19%

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	51%35 of 69 copies read
First farmers6500 to 3000 BC	40%376 of 942 copies read
Bronze Age3000 to 1200 BC	30%246 of 819 copies read
Iron Age and Antiquity1200 BC to AD 600	30%327 of 1,107 copies read
Middle AgesAD 600 to 1500	30%186 of 614 copies read
Today1000 Genomes	26%262 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. Damage in old DNA can fake this letter, so it is counted only from samples treated to remove that damage and from high-quality genomes. Ancient genomes from the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR v66): 15,136 people.

rs9866054

The marker

Gene or region: MRPS22 / FOXL2 region
Marker: rs9866054
Location: Chromosome 3 · GRCh37 138,997,688 · GRCh38 139,278,846
Letters studied: A and G, with A 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: MRPS22 / FOXL2 region · rs9866054
Location: Chromosome 3 · GRCh37 138,997,688 · GRCh38 139,278,846
Studied allele: A
Published statistic: A allele: rater-scored beta on the 0 (free) to 2 (attached) scale −0.041 (SE 0.022, P 0.059) European American, −0.025 (SE 0.011, P 0.019) Latin American, −0.128 (SE 0.015, P 2.60e-18) Chinese; rater-scored meta-analysis P 5.27e-13; 23andMe self-report OR 0.837 (0.813 to 0.862), P 4.42e-33; all four cohorts P 4.78e-43 (Table 1) (Table 1 (23andMe and rater-scored rows); Methods (23andMe sample of 64,950; 0, 1, 2 coding))
1000 Genomes Project phase 3, people with 0, 1 and 2 copies: All regions 1281 / 868 / 355 · Africa 606 / 54 / 1 · The Americas 96 / 143 / 108 · East Asia 153 / 243 / 108 · Europe 286 / 172 / 45 · South Asia 140 / 256 / 93

See this card in the sample report

Limits

What it cannot tell you

A single marker, one of dozens that shape earlobe attachment.

Multiethnic GWAS reveals polygenic architecture of earlobe attachment (Shaffer et al., 2017)

The same topic

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