Mitochondrial Antioxidant

Your result, the one DNA position behind it, and what the research says.

5/10 confidence.

About Mitochondrial Antioxidant

Burning fuel for energy inevitably leaks reactive oxygen, and mitochondria mop it up with an enzyme called SOD2. The enzyme is built outside the mitochondrion and has to be threaded through its membrane, and this variant changes the shape of the threading signal itself. One version forms a tidy helix that feeds through easily; the other is floppier and gets imported less efficiently. The finished enzyme is identical either way, because the signal is trimmed off once the enzyme is inside. What differs is how much of the finished enzyme reaches the place it is needed.

Good to know: The enzyme is built outside the mitochondrion and must be imported into it. This variant changes the import signal, not the enzyme's own activity. Both versions are common, so neither is the unusual one.

Fun fact: The change alters a short signal sequence that acts like an address label, and a floppier label is read less reliably by the import machinery.

Discovery: The effect of this change on mitochondrial import efficiency was demonstrated in the early 2000s.

The Variant

The single variant behind this trait

Gene: SOD2

Variant (rsID): rs4880

Location: Chr 6:159,692,840

dbSNP rs4880

The studies

The Ala16Val genetic dimorphism modulates the import of human manganese superoxide dismutase into rat liver mitochondria (Sutton A et al., Pharmacogenetics, 2003)

Other lifestyle traits

Selenium Enzyme Activity: A change in glutathione peroxidase 1, a selenium-containing enzyme that neutralises hydrogen peroxide inside cells.

Adrenaline Receptor Tuning: A change in the beta-2 adrenaline receptor, the switch adrenaline uses to open airways and to make brown fat generate heat.

Telomere Length: A variant in a region linked to telomere length, the protective caps on the ends of your chromosomes.

Back to All Traits

Content updated September 2026.

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