I’ll add that to the list of genes I want knocked out when CRISPR gets good enough.
Eh, it’s probably good enough for this. Go for it.
We can do this on isolated cells, but I really don’t think we have a way to distribute such a change across the zillions of cells in a human body.
And even if we could, it’s not clear how much effect altering the gene after the fact would have. Maybe once your apocrine glands have obeyed the gene and developed a certain way, it’s too late.
That said… Sign me the hell up.
isnt crispr itself the way to distribute it?
CRISPR makes gene editing easier, but unless you’ve got a way to deliver it to every cell, it won’t do much unless you’re targeting such a small number of cells that it’s realistic to have a technician physically inject it into a cell.
That would work for an embryo. Ignoring the plethora of ethical issues and the lack of data on long-term effects, it would probably be pretty easy for a scientist to make the change in an embryo and then go through the normal in-vitro fertilization procedure.
For a whole organism, though, it’s more difficult. One obvious solution is a specially modified virus, and that’s under research.
There’s a lot of stuff here if you want to dive deep:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356196/#sec3-biomolecules-10-00839title
One of the best explanations of this and an actual demonstration of the technology to do this was done In this video on curing lactose intolerance (not permanently).
Whats even crazier is that this video was published 6 years ago and the paper you referenced is 4 years old. With the speed that genetics research is going, both of these are certainly very outdated resources even if the background is mostly the same.
That’s pretty impressive. I hadn’t even thought oral treatments were possible!
It’s amazing.
We can’t make enough. And crispr is for inside cells, there is another layer needed for getting it there, like a virus shell for example.
Well, The Thought Emporium made a pill with a virus that modified the genome in at least some of his cells, and made him lactose tolerant for a year and after that he was left significantly more able to handle lactose than before.
So it’s absolutely possible to some degree, for some gene manipulation at least.
I’m not comfortable with calling something that is prevalent in 80%-95% of an area’s population a dysfunction unless it results in remarkably lower life expectancy or quality of life otherwise.
This is a good point.
deleted by creator
✋dysfunction?
👉enhancement
In a genetic sense, it is a dysfunction of the gene that causes this. It’s neat because we can actually trace the history of human migrations by looking at the distribution of this particular allele (version of a gene). We have analysed DNA from ancient remains of early Europeans and found that the A allele is absent. It appears like this version of the gene first emerged in an ancient East Asian population.
This gene also determines whether you have dry or sticky ear wax. It’s a neat gene because it’s uncommon for physical human traits to be controlled by one gene — most human characteristics are controlled by multiple genes (polygenic traits); ginger hair is another example of a monogenic trait. ABCC11 is neat because it affects multiple traits: sweat smell and earwax dryness.
It might also be implicated in breast cancer risk (I can’t tell whether that’s in an increased risk or decreased risk), but we don’t really understand yet how that would work. From skimming the research, I would say we generally don’t understand how this gene works at all. We do know some stuff about it and how/why it works, but we’re still a decent way off of actually understanding its implications.
hold on what’s the connection between the two? what type of earwax is present in people with less body odor?
I don’t have an answer for you, but I love how seemingly random it is. Like someone reached into a raffle bowl and was like “Okay ABCC11 you get… Earwax and <shuffles around> …ah. Body odor”.
Or you get body odor and… alas, earwax!
Did you know that you can click the headline to get to an actual article that you can read, which answers this question?
guilty! should have read it before commenting blindly
for everyone else reading,
a dysfunctional ABCC11 gene is also connected to drier, less goopy earwax. “So less of that means less body odor, and also translates to dry earwax.”
Maybe affects the kind of bacteria that can grow on your body? That’s where the smell in your armpits come from and earwax stops bacteria.
Life pro tip for those who do stink when they sweat:
If you ever find yourself in a pinch, and either you forgot deodorant or it wore off (it’s bullshit that these deodorants last 24+ hours), you can use hand sanitizer as makeshift deodorant. The isopropyl alcohol in the hand sanitizer will also kill the bacteria that breaks down those lipids that cause the odor. You can also substitute rubbing alcohol for deodorant and it generally lasts longer.
Can I just rub some Asian people on me?
Sure, if they let your smelly ass get close enough to them.
Is this specificly East Asian? Cause I had an Indian roommate once and that dude could knock out half the city with his stretch.
A lot of that is diet and, of course, hygiene. Having 10% less BO doesn’t do anything for you if you’re not showering, or eating garlic gloves whole.
Never eat whole garlic gloves: they’re simply too powerful
Yah, wow, some Indians need to have some intervention done. I know plenty of Indians that are perfectly fine, and then there’s a subset that smell like me after a 2 week solo backpacking trip.
I bet it would be wild to be unaware of body odor and run into someone without this gene disfunction.
Like whoa you do WHAT when you sweat? Like every time? This is normal? It smells Iike onions, spices and cheese when you work??
I’ve noticed after a workout a balls scent, but I’ve never thought of onions, spices and cheese.
I think it’s diet dependant. I notice there’s a distinct change in my body odor when my diet contains a great deal of onions and spices and a general acrid scent that’s somewhat evocative of funky cheese.
What have you been eating lately? 🤭
My dad once told me Curry has that effect and that’s why Indian people stink.
He was also kinda racist tho so that might not be true.
I have two perspectives to this. I once had several male Indian roommates and I honestly don’t remember them having a scent beyond “male”. I could pick up turmeric from one of them, but I think he used a turmeric toothpaste.
I’m white and afab (not on t at the time) and a decade after having those roomies, I had a half-Indian friend tell me I smell like her dad lol. I think curry odor might just stick to clothing, I make it a few times a week so I’m sure my whole house smells like curry to outsiders at this point
It varies, but I eat a lot of vegetables (especially garlic and onions) and chicken. But, I drink a lot of coffee.
It reminds me of how there is a gene that determines whether eating asparagus makes your pee stink, and there’s a different gene that determines whether you can smell it. I had a friend who didn’t have the stinky pee gene, but her boyfriend did, and she complained of the smell when she used the bathroom after him occasionally. He had the stinky pee gene, but not the gene to be able to smell the stink.
This came up in a random conversation with my friend, before she knew about the genes thing. I was so excited that I got to tell her about a cool science thing that I couldn’t speak for a few moments.
This was pretty much exactly what happened when people started dropping by Japan in the colonial era
Well there’s a pretty easy fix unless it’s an extreme case. Razor and antiperspirant (or just deodorant if you’re worried about aluminium).
A feature, not a bug
Try telling that to the 5-20% of the guys at my gym in Korea who are absolutely ripe. The problem with having most of your population not have major BO is that those that do generally have trouble dealing with it.
Try buying deodorant at a supermarket in South Korea. Impossible.
Not anymore. At least if you don’t mind Nivea.
what’s wrong with Nivea?
Nothing, but it’s the only choice for deodorant that they carry in most major chain stores.
They keep doing business in Russia
https://www.reuters.com/article/beiersdorf-russia-idINS8N2TL07Y/
And some Koreans need no deodorant at all.
Many Asians in fact
A decade ago, it was damn near impossible to get actual deodorant, not antiperspirant, in Korea. I had to get folks from The States to mail me Old Spice occasionally.
My partner, Filipino, doesn’t need it either. She uses lime sometimes. Yes, really.
One of the most disgusting things I have ever read was from a guy on IRC who said he never bathed: “Women are attracted to my natural musk.” (He also claimed to be ‘voluntarily celibate.’ This was long before incels were a thing.)
I have a friend that isn’t asian that’s like this, dude just bathes, no deodorant necessary, I was incredulous until I discovered this last year. It’s just extremely rare in the western world.
