Sequencings

Markers / Gene

LZTFL1 region

2 positions in this gene are readable from a home DNA test.

Neanderthal: the chromosome 3 COVID risk haplotype

rs35044562 · chr3:45,909,024 · A/G · evidence: established

A 50,000-letter stretch of chromosome 3, inherited whole from Neanderthals, turned out to be the single strongest genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19. It is carried by roughly half of people in South Asia, around one in six Europeans, and almost nobody in East Asia.

If you carryWhat it means
No copiesYou did not inherit this Neanderthal stretch
One copyYou inherited it from one parent
Two copiesYou inherited it from both parents
Ancestry groupG (the effect version)
African0.4%
American4.5%
East Asian0.5%
European8.0%
South Asian29.6%

1000 Genomes Project phase 3, via Ensembl, retrieved 2026-09-23. These groupings are coarse and flatten a great deal of internal diversity, particularly within Africa. A variant being common somewhere tells you where a piece of your ancestry probably comes from, and nothing else.

Full detail on rs35044562

Neanderthal: chromosome 3 haplotype, second marker

rs10490770 · chr3:45,864,732 · T/C · evidence: established

A second position inside the same inherited Neanderthal stretch, included because chips differ in which of the two they carry.

If you carryWhat it means
No copiesNot inherited
One copyInherited from one parent
Two copiesInherited from both parents
Ancestry groupC (the effect version)
African0.4%
American4.3%
East Asian0.5%
European8.1%
South Asian29.6%

1000 Genomes Project phase 3, via Ensembl, retrieved 2026-09-23. These groupings are coarse and flatten a great deal of internal diversity, particularly within Africa. A variant being common somewhere tells you where a piece of your ancestry probably comes from, and nothing else.

Full detail on rs10490770

Where this gene fits

If you have taken a home DNA test, these positions are already in your file.

Read my file