Genetics is becoming increasingly popular. People now know what is good and what is not good for their DNA. Everyone is aware of how genetics is involved in disease, stress and overall health and well-being.
A huge amount of genetic information is publicly available now! But there are still some traits that you won’t believe are genetic! For instance, if you are always seeking something new, innovative or novel, it’s genetic!
If you feel like traveling to new destinations, going on adventures, and tasting new food and feel pain differently, again, all these characteristics are genetic.
Don’t believe it? Let’s break down the genetics of 5 traits that are genetic but you are unaware of.
Related article: Can You Improve Your Genetics?
Key Topics:
Taste:
Taste is an important sensory organ. We want to taste everything that we like to eat, every day. We can feel different tastes – like sweet, spicy, bitter, salty and umami, only due to the taste buds.
Taste buds are a network of specialized cells containing proteins that detect the taste molecules. And as we know proteins are synthesized by genes. So there is a set of various genes that prepare different protein receptors for taste buds to sense different tastes.
For instance, TAS1R and TAS2R family genes. Interestingly, a mutation in taste receptors also causes loss of a sense for a particular type of taste. Check out this table to know more:
| Gene | Taste type | Mutation |
| TAS2R38 | Bitter | Some people barely taste bitterness, others find it very strong. |
| TAS1R2 | Sweet | Changes can make you more or less sensitive to sugar. |
| OR6A2 | Cilantro (soapy taste) | The variant makes cilantro taste like soap. |
| TAS1R3 | Umami and sweet | Variants may dull or heighten savory and sweet perception. |
| PKD2L1 | Sour | Variants can reduce the ability to detect sour flavors. |
It is also important to note that the expression of these taste-related genes also affects the tendency for different tastes. For instance, you can not eat extremely spicy food while someone else can.
Earwax type:
Earwax is important. It protects us from extreme noise, dirt, dust and infection. But you might have noticed that it varies greatly. Some have wet and sticky wax, while others have dry or flaky wax.
However, they still perform the same function, more or less. A single gene ABCCC11 is playing an important role in deciding the earwax type. The one gene variant produces wet, sticky and yellowish wax, while another variant produces flaky, dry and greenish earwax.
So it depends on which gene variant you have! But yes, it is genetic. Note that an abnormal gene variant results in a problem producing the earwax.
Related article: The Simplest Daily Routine To Strengthen Your Genetic Health.
Vulnerability to mosquitoes:
Mosquitoes bite you more often than others do, or vice versa. It’s because of your genes! However, it is a bit complex in nature.
For instance, some body odour attracts mosquitoes. Hence, genes that affect how you process compounds like lectin acid or fatty acids produce your body odour and decide how strongly or weakly you smell to mosquitoes.
However, studies also showed that HLA gene clusters play a vital role as they are actively involved in the immune system. But it is a complex genetic pattern that needs more focused studies to get more insights into the science behind the vulnerability of mosquitoes.
Read more: Can Your Mosquito Repellent Damage Your DNA?
Pain:
If you feel more or less pain (not in love!), it’s genetic! But again! More complex.
Pain is another sense, in fact, a protective sensor that lets us know about the physical harm. Imagine you are bleeding and you don’t even notice, someone else tells you, simply because you don’t feel it. That’s what happened to this girl.
Read our story of Olivia Framsworth, who can’t feel pain and hunger.
Pain sensing is a complex neural network. Genes involved in nerve signaling, signal transmission and other complex cellular activities collectively decide how we feel the pain.
Genes such as SCN9A, COMT, OPRM1, BDNF and many more are involved in pain sense, intensity and processing.
Novelty seeking:
Here comes the most interesting part! Is your habit of always looking for something novel and fresh, genetic? The answer is a big YES. But again a complex genetic and psychological trait.
It works based on how your brain’s dopamine system handles rewards. If you are more of a reward seeker (that we often are!), you are more of a novelty seeker.
When you find something interesting, get a new experience, such as travel, cooking or just a life experience, dopamine is released, which makes you feel happy. If your brain senses more dopamine, it feels more rewarding.
Now! There is a set of genes involved in dopamine synthesis, release and sensing that collectively decides how good you can feel when you find novelty or some new experience.
Notedly, it is the same brain sensing system that works for adventure. That’s why some people find extreme adventure more satisfying and rewarding. And as I told you, it is a complex genetic network, so we will discuss the genetic part in some other article.
Related article: How Regular Exercise Benefits Your Genetic Health.
Wrapping:
I guess! You never thought that our genetics govern these traits.
Every trait, whether it is physical, sensory, psychological, reproductive or cellular, is to a large extent genetic. Hence, DNA is known as the blueprint of life because it regulates almost all the activities.
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Sources:
- Drayna D. Human taste genetics. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2005;6:217-235. doi:10.1146/annurev.genom.6.080604.162340.
- Yoshiura K, Kinoshita A, Ishida T, et al. A SNP in the ABCC11 gene is the determinant of human earwax type. Nat Genet. 2006;38(3):324-330. doi:10.1038/ng1733.
- James, Sabu. “Human pain and genetics: some basics.” British journal of pain vol. 7,4 (2013): 171-8. doi:10.1177/2049463713506408.
- Minassian, Arpi et al. “The relationship between novelty-seeking traits and behavior: Establishing construct validity for the human Behavioral Pattern Monitor.” Psychiatry research vol. 316 (2022): 114776. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114776.
