rs1805008

A SNP in the MC1R gene on chromosome 16. Its most notable genotype is T;T: ~7-10x higher likelihood of red hair; higher risk of melanoma

Gene
MC1R
Location
Chr 1689,919,736 (GRCh38)
Highest magnitude
3.0Important
Tested on
23andMe, AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA
Minor allele frequency
3%

Genotypes

As shown in 23andMe and AncestryDNA files.

  1. C;CGoodcommon in clinvarTypical · 0.094% of people
  2. C;TBadRed hair carrier, higher risk of melanomaWorth knowing · 2.56% of people
  3. T;TMost notableBad~7-10x higher likelihood of red hair; higher risk of melanomaImportant · 3.00% of people

On SNPedia: (C;C), (C;T), (T;T). Magnitude rates how notable a genotype is from 0 to 10, not how risky it is.

Frequency

Share of each genotype in 10 HapMap populations.

  • AverageC;C 94% C;T 6% T;T 0%
  • European ancestry (Utah)C;C 74% C;T 26% T;T 0%
  • Han Chinese (Beijing)C;C 98% C;T 2% T;T 0%
  • Yoruba (Nigeria)C;C 96% C;T 4% T;T 0%
  • African ancestry (Southwest US)C;C 91% C;T 9% T;T 0%
  • Chinese (Denver)C;C 98% C;T 2% T;T 0%
  • Gujarati IndianC;C 97% C;T 3% T;T 0%
  • Luhya (Kenya)C;C 99% C;T <1% T;T 0%
  • Mexican ancestry (Los Angeles)C;C 97% C;T 3% T;T 0%
  • Maasai (Kenya)C;C 99% C;T <1% T;T 0%
  • TuscanC;C 91% C;T 9% T;T 0%

Conditions, medicines and genes

Other MC1R SNPs

All MC1R SNPs

Genosets

Genosets combine several genotypes. Twofold checks them in your report.

Notes

From SNPedia

Notes

rs1805008, known as Arg160Trp or R160W, is one of several SNPs in the MC1R gene associated with red hair color (redheads), in this case in an Irish population although this has also been reported in Icelandic and Dutch populations . The risk allele is rs1805008(T), compared with the wild-type rs1805008(C) allele. blog about designing melanocortin analogs specific to these genotypes. See also OMIM 155555.0005 Melanoma Parkinson's disease

C;T

this genotype raises the melanoma risk 42% (95% CI, 15–76%) higher than that among persons not carrying a similar allele.

References

Source and license

Adapted from rs1805008 on SNPedia, using a snapshot taken October 16, 2026. SNPedia content is shared under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US, and this page is shared under the same license.

SNPedia is a community-edited wiki. Its entries can be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and nothing here is a diagnosis or medical advice. Magnitude is a community rating of how interesting a genotype is, not a risk score.