DNA Traits · Skin & sun
Sunburn history (MC1R R160W)
How many severe sunburns people recall having had.
What the research found
In the cited research, the T allele at rs1805008 was associated with a greater self-reported lifetime number of severe sunburns in the studied cohorts.
- CC
- Fewer burns
- CT
- Middle
- TT
- More burns
- Evidence
- Genome-wide association in UK Biobank with nominal independent replication
- Who was studied
- European ancestry (UK Biobank; US Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study)
How common each genotype is
| Region | CCFewer burns | CTMiddle | TTMore burns |
|---|---|---|---|
| All regions2,504 people | 97% | 3% | <1% |
| Africa661 people | >99% | <1% | Not seen |
| The Americas347 people | >99% | <1% | Not seen |
| East Asia504 people | All | Not seen | Not seen |
| Europe503 people | 88% | 12% | <1% |
| South Asia489 people | >99% | <1% | Not seen |
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.
Through time
How often the studied letter was read in ancient people, era by era, in the region chosen.
| Before farmingbefore 6500 BC | 2%1 of 65 copies read |
|---|---|
| First farmers6500 to 3000 BC | 2%26 of 1,041 copies read |
| Bronze Age3000 to 1200 BC | 2%15 of 990 copies read |
| Iron Age and Antiquity1200 BC to AD 600 | 4%46 of 1,227 copies read |
| Middle AgesAD 600 to 1500 | 6%38 of 629 copies read |
| Today1000 Genomes | 6%62 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.
The marker
- Gene or region
- MC1R (R160W)
- Marker
- rs1805008
- Location
- Chromosome 16 · GRCh37 89,986,144 · GRCh38 89,919,736
- Letters studied
- C and T, with T 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
- MC1R (R160W) · rs1805008
- Location
- Chromosome 16 · GRCh37 89,986,144 · GRCh38 89,919,736
- Studied allele
- T
- Published statistic
- beta 0.71 (SE 0.18) per T allele on the number of lifetime severe sunburns coded as a continuous variable, P 4.8e-5 (Zhang 2013 Table 6); UK Biobank sunburn GWAS P 2e-225 (Kichaev 2019, GWAS Catalog GCST007086, no effect size or direction curated); the same T allele lowers tanning ability, beta -0.16 (SE 0.02), P 1.3e-13 (Zhang 2013 Table 6) and OR 1.91 (1.86 to 1.97) per T for low tan response, P 2.72e-403 (Visconti 2018 Supplementary Table 19) (Table 6 (rs1805008 row, number of sunburns column) and Methods)
- 1000 Genomes Project phase 3, people with 0, 1 and 2 copies
- All regions 2433 / 69 / 2 · Africa 656 / 5 / 0 · The Americas 345 / 2 / 0 · East Asia 504 / 0 / 0 · Europe 443 / 58 / 2 · South Asia 485 / 4 / 0
What it cannot tell you
R160W is one of several MC1R variants, and two copies are rare even in Europe.
Genome-wide association studies identify several new loci associated with pigmentation traits and skin cancer risk in European Americans (Zhang et al., 2013)More in Skin & sun
- Ease of tanning association
- Severe sunburn history association
- Mole count association
- Facial pigmented spots association
- Ease of tanning (TYRP1)
- Ease of tanning (TRPS1)
- Ease of tanning (EMX2)
- Ease of tanning (IRF4)
- Ease of tanning (SPIRE2)
- Ease of tanning (MC1R R151C)
- Tanning ability (ASIP region)
- Ease of sunburn (SLC45A2)
- Stretch marks
See your own two letters.
Upload the raw DNA file you already have. Your report reads this marker and every other card studied for you, each with its evidence and its limits.