Markers / Gene
near OR2M7
One position in this gene is readable from a home DNA test.
Smelling asparagus in urine
rs4481887 · chr1:248,496,863 · G/A · evidence: moderate
Almost everyone produces the sulphur compounds after eating asparagus. Only some people can smell them, and this position sits in a cluster of smell-receptor genes.
| If you carry | What it means |
|---|---|
| No copies | Less likely to detect it |
| One copy | More likely to detect it |
| Two copies | Most likely to detect it |
| Ancestry group | A (the effect version) | |
|---|---|---|
| African | 10.0% | |
| American | 21.8% | |
| East Asian | 13.8% | |
| European | 27.7% | |
| South Asian | 10.2% |
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