The Sun Sneeze Gene

submitted by Huzzaz on 04/28/17 1

I have the photic sneeze reflex so I sneeze when I look at bright light. Check out 23andMe: ve42.co/23andme *So technically the single nucleotide swap (C instead of T) is not actually in a gene per se but in an intergenic region on chromosome 2. It's also not clear exactly how this affects physiology or causes the sun sneeze but there is correlative evidence that every copy of this single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is associated with a 1.3x increase in likelihood of having the photic sneeze reflex. I have wanted to make a video about sun-sneezing for a long time. It is something I've experienced my whole life. When I go from a dark room indoors into full sunlight I invariably sneeze. I thought everyone did it. So my original question was why do people sneeze when they see bright light? That led me to consider what possible evolutionary advantages there could be to sneezing in sunlight. The obvious advantage to me is that sunlight kills pathogens of which there may be many in your snot or mucus. So sneezing in sunshine is a much better idea than sneezing inside a dark, damp cave where you may be living. For more info, check out: Web-Based, Participant-Driven Studies Yield Novel Genetic Associations for Common Traits journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000993 Filmed by Raquel Nuno

Leave a comment

Be the first to comment

Be the first to
collect this video
cover photo
Email
Message
×
Embed video on a website or blog
Width
px
Height
px
×
Join Huzzaz
Start collecting all your favorite videos
×
Log in
Join Huzzaz

facebook login
×
Retrieve username and password
Name
Enter your email address to retrieve your username and password
(Check your spam folder if you don't find it in your inbox)

×