Ear wax table

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) 35a 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 2 7 (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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