Markers / Gene
MC1R
2 positions in this gene are readable from a home DNA test.
Red hair variant R151C
rs1805007 · chr16:89,986,117 · C/T · evidence: established
MC1R decides which of the two pigments your skin and hair make. Several partly-broken versions push production towards the red-yellow pigment, and this is the strongest of the common ones.
| If you carry | What it means |
|---|---|
| No copies | You do not carry this red-hair variant |
| One copy | One copy, which usually shows as fair, freckled skin rather than red hair |
| Two copies | Two copies, so red hair and very fair skin are highly likely |
| Ancestry group | T (the effect version) | |
|---|---|---|
| African | 0.3% | |
| American | 1.6% | |
| East Asian | 0.1% | |
| European | 7.2% | |
| South Asian | 0.5% |
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.
Red hair variant R160W
rs1805008 · chr16:89,986,144 · C/T · evidence: established
The second of the common strongly red-associated versions of MC1R.
| If you carry | What it means |
|---|---|
| No copies | You do not carry this red-hair variant |
| One copy | One copy, usually fair skin and freckling rather than red hair |
| Two copies | Two copies, so red hair and very fair skin are highly likely |
| Ancestry group | T (the effect version) | |
|---|---|---|
| African | 0.4% | |
| American | 0.3% | |
| East Asian | 0.0% | |
| European | 6.2% | |
| South Asian | 0.4% |
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.
Where this gene fits
If you have taken a home DNA test, these positions are already in your file.
Read my file