Gene Expression: Ear wax table

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Ear wax table permlink

Category: Genetics
Posted on: February 1, 2006 1:38 AM, by Razib

I've been getting queries about the ear wax paper...below the fold I've copied table 1, which shows the frequencies of the haplotypes in various populations.

First, note the sample sizes.
Keep these sample sizes in mind as you try to get an understanding of the clines the authors were talking about.
Greg Cochran points out that since dry ear wax is a recessive trait it seems plausible that the phenotype being selected is different. It might be dominant or additive so that a total approach toward fixation of the allele would not be necessary for the fitness to be maximized. Consider the earwax trait, if allele frequences are 0.5 for both A and G in a population, you have 0.25 = AA, 0.5 = AG and 0.25 = GG. So Only 1/4 benefit from the fitness increasing trait. If it is a dominant feature somewhere else, you flip it, and with a 0.5 A frequency 3/4 of the population would maximize their fitness.
On the bit about randon genetic drift vs. selection, look at the map, if this allele was approaching fixation via stochastic processes it seems peculiar that it would exhibit a continental cline. Fragmented populations can fix at alternative alleles, but the distribution would be patchy and intercalated, not suggestive of a broad trend around an East Asian mode.

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Table 1

Published online: 29 January 2006; | doi:10.1038/ng1733

A SNP in the ABCC11 gene is the determinant of human earwax type

Koh-ichiro Yoshiura, Akira Kinoshita, Takafumi Ishida, Aya Ninokata, Toshihisa Ishikawa, Tadashi Kaname, Makoto Bannai, Katsushi Tokunaga, Shunro Sonoda, Ryoichi Komaki, Makoto Ihara, Vladimir A Saenko, Gabit K Alipov, Ichiro Sekine, Kazuki Komatsu, Haruo Takahashi, Mitsuko Nakashima, Nadiya Sosonkina, Christophe K Mapendano, Mohsen Ghadami, Masayo Nomura, De-Sheng Liang, Nobutomo Miwa, Dae-Kwang Kim, Ariuntuul Garidkhuu, Nagato Natsume, Tohru Ohta, Hiroaki Tomita, Akira Kaneko, Mihoko Kikuchi, Graciela Russomando, Kenji Hirayama, Minaka Ishibashi, Aya Takahashi, Naruya Saitou, Jeffery C Murray, Susumu Saito, Yusuke Nakamura & Norio Niikawa

*Table 1 Genotypes at the rs17822931 site and frequencies of alleles A and 27 of ABCC11* among different ethnic populations**

		No. of individuals with genotypes
Ethnic populations	Tribes or inhabitants studied	AA	(frequency)	GA	GG	No. of individuals genotyped	Frequency of allele A	Frequency of allele 27	Collected by



Korean	Taegu inhabitant	99	(1.000)	0	0	99	1.000	0/190	D.-K.K.
Chinese	Shanxi inhabitant (Northern Han Chinese)	74	(1.000)	0	0	74	1.000		N.S.
	Jingsu inhabitant (Northern Han Chinese)	110	(0.924)	9	0	119	0.962		N.S.
	Inhabitants of Fujian, Guanjgdong and Hunan Provinces (Southern Han Chinese)	249	(0.750)	63	8	332	0.845		N.S.
	Han Chinese from multi-regions	42	(0.808)	10	0	52	0.904	0/104	D.S.L.
Mongolian	Khalkha tribe	126	(0.759)	36	4	166	0.867	0/252	T.I., A.G.
Japanese	Nagasaki inhabitant (western prefecture of Japan mainland)	87	(0.690)	35^{^a}	4	126	0.829	1/668	N.N.
	Okinawa people (southwestern prefecture of Japan)	30	(0.517)	25	3	58	0.733		T.K.
	Yonakuni islander (western island of Japan)	13	(0.433)	15	2	30	0.683	0/60	S.S.
	Ainu in Biratori-Nibutani village in Hokkaido	32	(0.552)	24	2	58	0.759	0/116	T.I., N.N.
Vietnamese	People from multi-regions	82	(0.536)	60	11	153	0.732		N.Na.
Dravidian	Inhabitants of Tamil Nadu in India	27	(0.540)	17	6	50	0.710	0/100	T.I.
Thai	Northern Thai (Lahu, Shan, Lisu, Hmong, Akha, Mlabri and Karen (Mae-sot Thai) tribes combined)	215	(0.505)	163	48	426	0.696	0/158 (Karen)	T.I., K.H.
	Central Thai in Bangkok	31	(0.633)	10	8	49	0.735	1/100 (Bangkokian)	T.I.
	Southern Thai (Urak Lawoi and Sakai tribes combined)	2	(0.026)	23	52	77	0.175	0/52 (Sakai)	T.I.
Vedda	Native people in Sri Lanka	7	(0.350)	12	1	20	0.650		T.I.
Indonesian	Dayak tribe in Kalimantan	12	(0.293)	23	6	41	0.573		T.I.
	Toraja and Bugis tribes in Sulawesi	27	(0.270)	49	24	100	0.515		T.I.
	Floresian	18	(0.300)	25	17	60	0.508		T.I.
	Sumbanese	9	(0.180)	16	25	50	0.340		T.I.
	Dani tribe in Irian Jaya	0	(0.000)	2	31	33	0.030		T.I.
Malaysian	Sabah in North Borneo	24	(0.393)	27	10	61	0.566	0/132 (Sabah)	K.H.
	Bentong tribe	8	(0.113)	40	23	71	0.394	0/138	K.H.
Taiwanese	Taiwan Aborigine (Yami and Ami combined)	34	(0.330)	48	21	103	0.563	0/100 (Ami)	T.I.
Native American		6	(0.300)	8	6	20	0.500	2/40	R.K.
Philippino	Palawan	11	(0.229)	23	14	48	0.469		T.I.
Easter Islander		4	(0.138)	18	7	29	0.448		S.S.
Bolivian	Aymara inhabitants	5	(0.167)	14	11	30	0.400	9/60	S.S.
Kazakh		6	(0.200)	11	13	30	0.383		G.K.A.
Native Paraguayan	Ayoreos	2	(0.040)	34	14	50	0.380	0/98	K.H.
	Sanapana	0	(0.000)	14	61	75	0.093	0/150	K.H.
Russian		5	(0.045)	45	62	112	0.246	0/208	V.A.S.
Solomon Islander		2	(0.323)	25	35	62	0.234	0/122	K.H.
Pacific islander		1	(0.143)	1	5	7	0.214	0/14	Coriell
French	From the CEPH families	1	(0.083)	3	8	12	0.208	0/24	CEPH
Andean people		1	(0.100)	2	7	10	0.200	1/20	Coriell
Hungarian		0	(0.000)	4	6	10	0.200	0/20	Coriell
Jewish	Ashkenazi	0	(0.000)	4	6	10	0.200	0/20	Coriell
Ukrainian		0	(0.000)	15	27	42	0.179	0/84	V.A.S.
Papuan	Papua, New Guinea	1	(0.026)	11	26	38	0.171	0/68	T.I.
European American	From CEPH families without the French and Venezuelans	1	(0.012)	16	65	82	0.110	0/164	CEPH
Vanuatu islander	Aneityum and Santo islanders combined	1	(0.011)	17	74	92	0.103	0/266 (Any and Gau islanders)	K.H.
Iberian		0	(0.000)	2	8	10	0.100		Coriell
Colombian		0	(0.000)	2	15	17	0.059	0/34	S.S.
Venezuelan	Inhabitants of Ye'Kuana and Sanuma villages	0	(0.000)	3	29	32	0.047	0/64	S.S.,CEPH
African	From various sub-Saharan nations	0	(0.000)	1	10	11	0.045	0/22	C.K.M.
African American		0	(0.000)	0	10	10	0.000	0/20	Coriell






D.-K.K., D.-K. Kim; N.S., N. Saitou; N.N., N. Niikawa; D.-S.L., D.-S. Liang; T.I., T. Ishida; A.G., A. Garidkhuu; T.K., T. Kaname; S.S., S. Sonoda; N.Na., N. Natsume; K.H., K. Hirayama; R.K., R. Komaki; G.K.A., G.K. Alipov; V.A.S., V.A. Saenko; C.K.M., C.K. Mapendanno; Coriell, from the Coriell Institute; CEPH, from the CEPH families.



^aOne exceptional case of dry cerumen who has 27 on the G allele is included.

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Comments

Means I have some genes from somewhere east of the European subcontinent. Europeans overall only are 3 percent dry earwax. It's a trait that originated in the northeast of Asia. Koreans and Northern Han Chinese have 100 percent dry earwax. I've got to say, it's irritating to have, but I've learned that East Asian people use their own little device for getting the stuff off. I've never seen one myself, but I should really seek it out in a Chinese neighborhood.

Posted by: jeanne | October 9, 2006 12:44 AM

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