23andme - question about PON1 gene rs662

[richvank]

What's the risk allele for pesticide exposure?

Hi, hixxy.

The risk allele for pesticide exposure is T.

Rich

 

[globalpilot]

Thanks Rich. How were you able to determine this ? Another poster posted to omim which referred to 'A' and 'G' alleles. Is that how you knew ? I wasn't sure if they were referring to adenine and guanine or arginine and glutamine.

Hi, hixxy.

The risk allele for pesticide exposure is T.

Rich

 

[richvank]

Thanks Rich. How were you able to determine this ? Another poster posted to omim which referred to 'A' and 'G' alleles. Is that how you knew ? I wasn't sure if they were referring to adenine and guanine or arginine and glutamine.

Hi, globalpilot.

I went to the dbSNP page for this SNP: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP/snp_ref.cgi?rs=rs662

In the "Gene View" section, it shows that an allele change from CAA to CGA corresponds to an amino acid residue change from Q [Gln] to R [Arg].
Then A is complementary to T, and G is complementary to C.

Since Leah Steele found that Q is the amino acid residue at location 192 in the PON1 protein that corresponds to pesticide sensitivity, and Q in this case corresponds to T, then T is the risk allele for pesticide exposure.

Best regards,

Rich

 

[adreno]

Damn. I'm TT.

Pesticides inhibit cholinesterase. Before my ME/CFS symptoms really took off, I was living in SE Asia. I have just learned that the pesticides levels there are exceeded more than 100x the EU safe limits.

This could very well explain my POTS. Combine this with defects in methylation and sulphation, and it is a recipe for disaster.

 

[hixxy]

Damn. I'm TT.

Pesticides inhibit cholinesterase. Before my ME/CFS symptoms really took off, I was living in SE Asia. I have just learned that the pesticides levels there are exceeded more than 100x the EU safe limits.

This could very well explain my POTS. Combine this with defects in methylation and sulphation, and it is a recipe for disaster.

I managed to dodge that bullet with CC.

You don't have MCS??

I'm looking forward to having a proper wiki on the new forum so we can bring all this information together and make it far more accessible.

Spreadsheets hosted on google docs just doesn't cut it.

hixxy

 

[adreno]

I managed to dodge that bullet with CC.

You don't have MCS??

I'm looking forward to having a proper wiki on the new forum so we can bring all this information together and make it far more accessible.

Spreadsheets hosted on google docs just doesn't cut it.

hixxy

I don't think I have mcs. I mean, I'm obviously not well, but haven't noticed any specific reaction to chemicals.

 

[hixxy]

I don't think I have mcs. I mean, I'm obviously not well, but haven't noticed any specific reaction to chemicals.

I didn't know I had MCS for the first 4 years. It became obvious when I developed the ridiculous sense of smell. Then again, I was pretty ignorant of what MCS is prior to that, I didn't know the reason I felt so sick out and about all the time was chemicals.

It can be quite deceptive when the disease is in it's more mild stages. When it becomes more severe it's about as deceptive as a sledge hammer hitting you on the head.

Seeing as you're clued on to MCS, I'd say you'd probably know if you had it or not whether you have the sense of smell or not.

hixxy

 

[roxie60]

Would being ableto smell (choke) on smoke from someone smoking 2-3 cars in front of me qualify ass ridiculous sense of smell? I seem to smell things that make it hard for me to breathe (have to leave the area) that others find mild.

 

[hixxy]

Would being ableto smell (choke) on smoke from someone smoking 2-3 cars in front of me qualify ass ridiculous sense of smell? I seem to smell things that make it hard for me to breathe (have to leave the area) that others find mild.

That's called the beginnings of multiple chemical sensitivity. I suggest you start avoiding chemicals and look into the illness more. It can become devastating if not controlled.

 

[Hip]

Damn. I'm TT.

I have just discovered that the rs662 SNP in my PON1 gene also has the TT alleles.

Just a few years prior to the beginning of my ME/CFS, I was chronically exposed for a year or so to a significant amount of organophosphate pesticides, due to a bad indoor pesticide contamination at home. The exposure was so severe that my testicles shut down semen production for around 6 months (organophosphates are known to reduce semen quality, but in my case, they caused a complete cessation of semen production). I also had severe mental symptoms during this period of exposure (confusion and psychosis). Other household members also suffered symptoms, but not nearly as bad as me. I expect that my TT allele was the reason I got hit so much worse than everyone else by this pesticide exposure.

Although I also caught a nasty virus just after this exposure, which I think played a major role in my development of ME/CFS, I do wonder just how much that horrible pesticide experience I went through also contributed to me getting ME/CFS.

One pesticide poisoning expert I spoke to told me that individuals who suffer significant organophosphate pesticide poisoning fall into two camps: those that slowly get better after a few years, and those that actually seem to further deteriorate over the subsequent years. So I wonder if my development of ME/CFS is in part due to this further deterioration over the years.

Farmers that use "sheep dip", which generally contains organophosphates, are 4 times more likely to develop ME/CFS, so there is definitely a link between organophosphate exposure and the development of ME/CFS. Ref: 1

Note that generally speaking, the pesticide residues in foods are negligible, and not a concern. Damaging pesticide exposure usually comes from accidental spillages, and garden, municipal and agricultural applications.



EDIT: actually it seems that for some organophosphate compounds, the TT allele may make PON1 slower at detoxifying them; and for other organophosphates, the TT allele may make PON1 faster at detoxification. See this post.

So I don't think we can say that the TT allele on rs662 SNP uniformly slows the detoxification of organophosphates by PON1. If I understood correctly, I think you would need to look at this on a case-by-case basis, and see whether for the organophosphate in question, how the TT allele affects the detoxification rate of PON1.

 

[brenda]

Hi Hip

I had an ongoing severe exposure lasting 2 years, to pesticide after a domestic application and I am TT. It led to lung damage, and vast increase of histamine, vomitting, worsening mental symptoms but I already had ME/CFS from mercury poisoning. I had mcs from that childhood exposure and it worsened from the Ficam W pesticide but not until Lyme Disease some years later did I become non functioning.

The other members of the household, all males were not as badly affected and slowly improved although they had later environmental exposures including CO poisoning. Does the pesticide exposure lead to infertility in males?

 

[Hip]

Does the pesticide exposure lead to infertility in males?

I have not looked into this thoroughly, but from what I did read, it seems that sperm quality and fertility is reduced while being exposed to organophosphates. Whether there is any long-term damage in terms of genetic mutations, I am not sure. In the case of malathion, the organophosphate pesticide I was exposed to, the limited evidence suggests it is not carcinogenic or mutagenic, but it is not known for sure.

 

[racerbiker39]

Well this is strange. The link I provided says glutamine is the slower version. And SNPpedia says glutamine is the normal version. Do you see what I mean ?

FWIW, my paraoxonase was very low at 121 (normal 150-1000)

can you tell me the lab where you got the paraoxonase enzyme tested?