Menard discovers new genetic region that affects individual differences in skin quality

 Nippon Menard Cosmetics analyzed the genome data of about 1,200 Japanese women, conducted a questionnaire on skin quality, and analyzed the relationship between the two. As a result, a gene called "rs1001949" was used for "easiness of stains". I found that the area was influential.

Furthermore, we also discovered gene regions that affect the skin quality of various individuals, such as "easiness of rough skin" and "easiness of flushing of the face".

The results of this time will be applied to the development of technology that accurately predicts the characteristics of individual skin types and the proposal of cosmetics and beauty methods that suit each skin type.

DNA is made up of four types of bases, adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G), and the specific arrangement of these bases serves as genetic information. Human genetic information is composed of a base sequence of about 3 billion DNAs, and this base sequence varies from individual to individual. In particular, a region in which only one base sequence differs from person to person is called an SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism).

It is estimated that there are about 10 million SNPs in the human genome, and it is thought that the difference in the base sequence is a factor of individual differences such as constitution and susceptibility to disease. Each SNP is assigned a universal ID called an rs number.

In order to analyze a large amount of SNPs existing in the human genome at one time, a technology called "SNP array" is used, in which DNA fragments that detect differences in bases are spread at high density and a large amount of SNPs can be determined at one time. Be done.

Genotype imputation is a method for statistically predicting even SNPs that are not mounted on an array by referring to human "whole genome sequence information" performed in the past. It will be possible to increase the number of SNPs to be analyzed to more than millions.

Therefore, we conducted various questionnaires on the subjects who analyzed the SNP information regarding their own skin quality such as the condition of stains and the susceptibility to rough skin.

As a result of searching for SNPs that affect individual skin quality using this questionnaire data and individual genomic data, "rs1001949" was found as the SNP most strongly related to "proneness of stains".

Specifically, according to SNP "rs1001949", it was found that GG type people tend to have dark spots, while CC type people have less likely to have dark spots.

Furthermore, the SNP "rs10785826" is related to "easiness of rough skin", and there are various other factors such as "easiness of flushing of the face" and "easiness of skin troubles with cosmetics". We have newly discovered an SNP that affects skin quality.

It is expected that the results of this time can be applied to the development of technology for accurately predicting the characteristics of individual skin and the proposal of cosmetics and beauty methods suitable for the skin type.

In addition, further research on the newly discovered gene region is expected to lead to more detailed research on the mechanism of stains and rough skin.