Interesting BHMT and BHMT2 Variations

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Valentijn

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These are the BHMT and BHMT2 SNPs which 23andMe genotypes, and which have research showing them to be relevant to varying extents. The missense mutation is underlined, bolded, and orange.

For BHMT, faster seems to always be better in the normal scheme of things, and there are a few variations where the rarer genotype or allele is speeding things up a bit. I'm homozygous for the rare version of the missense mutation :alien: :D

One Yasko SNP is omitted because it's not genotyped by 23andMe, and two others are omitted because there's no free research available showing that they're relevant. Although one is mentioned in paywalled articles, it's not mentioned in the abstracts, which almost always means it was looked at but it wasn't found to be relevant. The fourth Yasko SNP (BHMT-08, rs651852) is reported backwards - from the research it's pretty clear that the rare version is the more beneficial one.

BHMT
rsID.........NAME....RISK...ETC
rs16876512...C4658T..CC...T is protective
rs651852.....C6457T..CC...T is protective
rs6875201....A7961G..AA...G is protective
rs7700970....C8721T..TT
rs3797546....T1578C..CC
rs3733890....R239Q...GG...A is protective

BHMT2
rsID.........NAME....RISK...ETC
rs682985.....D54D....CC
rs625879.....A2010C..C....AA is protective
 
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Valentijn

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So what is BHMT and why is it important?

The full name of the BHMT gene and the enzyme it creates is betaine-homocysteine S-methyltransferase. It "remethylates" homocysteine by taking a methyl group from betaine and attaching to the homocysteine. That results in methionine, which hooks up with some ATP to form SAMe.

SAMe is pretty important, so it's not good to have slow BHMT. But BHMT malfunction has never been identified as causing death, etc. One effect of slow BHMT can be elevated homocysteine, but there are other pathways which can compensate for it.

What should be done for downregulated BHMT? Supplementing SAMe might seem like an obvious choice, but SAMe regulates BHMT functioning - so if SAMe is high, BHMT will take a vacation. An option mentioned by heartfixer.com is to supplement phosphatidylcholine. No idea if or how that works, but I suppose it's worth a try :p

An alternative might be to make sure the other method of transformation of homocysteine into methionine (via MTR/MTRR) is well-supported. My general understanding is that supplementing B12 might help keep things moving in the right direction.

If all else fails and your methylation cycle just can't function well enough to produce SAMe itself one way or the other, supplementing methionine (+ methyl groups if needed), or SAMe directly might be the only solution.
 
musicchick581

musicchick581

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Thanks for posting. So through MTHFR Support using 23 and me results my BHMT is all -/- except BHMT08 which is +/+. Is this the one that is reported backwards? So +/+ is good??
 
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trollo

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"What should be done for downregulated BHMT? Supplementing SAMe might seem like an obvious choice, but SAMe regulates BHMT functioning - so if SAMe is high, BHMT will take a vacation. An option mentioned by heartfixer.com is to supplement phosphatidylcholine. No idea if or how that works, but I suppose it's worth a try :p"

You wrote it, not me
 
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Valentijn

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trollo said:
"What should be done for downregulated BHMT? Supplementing SAMe might seem like an obvious choice, but SAMe regulates BHMT functioning - so if SAMe is high, BHMT will take a vacation. An option mentioned by heartfixer.com is to supplement phosphatidylcholine. No idea if or how that works, but I suppose it's worth a try :p"

You wrote it, not me
Click to expand...
It's a reference to heartfixer.

Additionally, the original question is in regards BHMT-08, which does not have a negative impact as usually reported, whereas others BHMT SNPs can actually have an impact. And in those cases, it's possible that the heartfixer/Yasko/whatever approach is worth a try.
 
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zzz0r

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@Valentijn I am not sure that BHMT08 mutation is reported as backwards in the research. At least I do not see that in heartifxer or in yasko's interpretations. Could you point that out to me please?
 
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Valentijn

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zzz0r said:
@Valentijn I am not sure that BHMT08 mutation is reported as backwards in the research. At least I do not see that in heartifxer or in yasko's interpretations. Could you point that out to me please?
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Probably http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667971/ in the supplementary material. Tiny effect, increased risk of neural tube defects. Most people would think that's a more relevant risk than Yasko's odd fear of lower (normal) homocysteine.
 
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zzz0r

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I just can not find it in the text that you linked. It is only referenced at the end of the text. However if a click on it the information provided are not enough and not for the 08 version
 
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Valentijn

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zzz0r said:
I just can not find it in the text that you linked. It is only referenced at the end of the text. However if a click on it the information provided are not enough and not for the 08 version
Click to expand...
It's in the supplementary table linked at the end of the article, rs651852. You'll probably need to read the entire article several times to figure out how they're reporting it.

If you still can't figure it out, feel free to ask Yasko for proof that it causes harm in the way that she claims it does.
 
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