Markers / Gene
NOS3
One position in this gene is readable from a home DNA test.
The enzyme that tells blood vessels to relax
rs1799983 · chr7:150,696,111 · T/G · evidence: moderate
NOS3 makes nitric oxide in the lining of your blood vessels, which is the signal that widens them. It is the pathway nitrate-rich foods like beetroot act on, and the one that several blood pressure drugs work through.
| If you carry | What it means |
|---|---|
| No copies | You have the common version on both copies |
| One copy | You carry one variant copy |
| Two copies | You have the variant version on both copies |
| Ancestry group | G (the effect version) | |
|---|---|---|
| African | 93.0% | |
| American | 78.5% | |
| East Asian | 87.0% | |
| European | 65.6% | |
| South Asian | 83.2% |
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