Markers / Gene
SLC30A8
One position in this gene is readable from a home DNA test.
The zinc transporter inside insulin granules
rs13266634 · chr8:118,184,783 · C/T · evidence: established
Insulin is stored in the pancreas packed around zinc, and this transporter loads the zinc in. The variant version is associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Unusually, rare mutations that break the gene completely are protective too, which is why it became a drug target.
| If you carry | What it means |
|---|---|
| No copies | You have the higher-risk version on both copies |
| One copy | You carry one lower-risk copy |
| Two copies | You have the lower-risk version on both copies |
| Ancestry group | T (the effect version) | |
|---|---|---|
| African | 7.4% | |
| American | 26.7% | |
| East Asian | 45.7% | |
| European | 28.3% | |
| South Asian | 25.5% |
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.
Where this gene fits
If you have taken a home DNA test, these positions are already in your file.
Read my file