Sequencings

Markers / ARMS2

rs10490924

Age-related macular degeneration, second locus

GeneARMS2
Positionchr10:124,214,448
VersionsG / T
Evidenceestablished

What this position does

The other major common-variant contributor to macular degeneration, independent of CFH. Carrying risk versions of both raises risk considerably more than either alone.

What each result means

If you carryWhat it means
No copies of the effect version
GG
You have the lower-risk version on both copies
Two copies of the lower-risk version.
One copy
GT
One higher-risk copy, roughly 2 to 3 times the background risk
Roughly 2 to 3 times the background risk.
Two copies
TT
Two higher-risk copies, roughly 6 to 8 times the background risk
Roughly 6 to 8 times the background risk. The same practical response applies: do not smoke, and have your eyes checked regularly from middle age.

How common each version is

Ancestry groupT (the effect version)
African24.6%
American24.8%
East Asian40.4%
European19.5%
South Asian34.3%

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.

How many people carry each result

Ancestry groupGGGTTT
African375 / 661247 / 66139 / 661
European322 / 503166 / 50315 / 503
East Asian182 / 504237 / 50485 / 504
South Asian219 / 489205 / 48965 / 489
American191 / 347140 / 34716 / 347

Counts of people, not modelled frequencies: every one of the 2,504 individuals sequenced by the 1000 Genomes Project phase 3, tallied by the genotype they carry. Deriving these from allele frequencies instead would assume random mating inside each group and undercount the homozygotes.

How to find out which you have

If you have taken a test with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA, TellMeGen or Living DNA, this position is very likely already in the raw data file they gave you. You do not need another test.

One thing to watch if you look it up by hand: testing companies report some positions from one DNA strand and some from the other, and the file does not say which. Read the letters as they appear and you will get the opposite of the truth for some positions. Sequencings resolves that automatically.

Source

Rivera et al., Hypothetical LOC387715 is a second major susceptibility gene for age-related macular degeneration, Human Molecular Genetics (2005)

Coordinates and allele pair verified against Ensembl GRCh37. Direction of effect verified against VEP protein consequences or 1000 Genomes population frequency. Category: Health-adjacent.

Where this fits

Common questions

What is rs10490924?

rs10490924 is a position in the ARMS2 gene on chromosome 10. The other major common-variant contributor to macular degeneration, independent of CFH. Carrying risk versions of both raises risk considerably more than either alone.

What does it mean if I have TT at rs10490924?

Two higher-risk copies, roughly 6 to 8 times the background risk. Roughly 6 to 8 times the background risk. The same practical response applies: do not smoke, and have your eyes checked regularly from middle age.

What does it mean if I have GG at rs10490924?

You have the lower-risk version on both copies. Two copies of the lower-risk version.

How do I find out my rs10490924 genotype?

If you have taken a home DNA test, this position is very likely in the raw data file you were given. Sequencings reads that file in your browser without uploading it, and resolves which DNA strand each position was reported from, which is the step most manual lookups get wrong.

This is reference information, not medical advice, and not a diagnosis. See the medical disclaimer. Category: Health-adjacent.