Nicotine Receptor

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

6/10 confidence.

About Nicotine Receptor

Nicotine works by binding receptors in the brain built from several subunits, and this change swaps an amino acid in one of them. It is among the most reliably replicated findings in behavioral genetics: across studies running to over a million people, the less common version goes with smoking more cigarettes per day among people who smoke. It says nothing about whether someone smokes at all, which is overwhelmingly about circumstance.

Good to know: This describes an average among people who smoke, not whether anyone smokes. It is one of the most reliably replicated findings in behavioral genetics. Circumstance shapes smoking far more than any receptor variant does.

Fun fact: The receptor this gene helps build is the direct target of nicotine, which is unusual - most behavioral genetics finds genes several steps removed from the thing being studied.

Discovery: CHRNA5 was linked to smoking quantity in 2008 and has replicated consistently since.

The Variant

The single variant behind this trait

Gene: CHRNA5

Variant (rsID): rs16969968

Location: Chr 15:78,590,583

dbSNP rs16969968

The studies

Exome Chip Meta-analysis Fine Maps Causal Variants and Elucidates the Genetic Architecture of Rare Coding Variants in Smoking and Alcohol Use (Brazel DM et al., Biological psychiatry, 2019)

Other lifestyle traits

Alcohol Flush: A change in the enzyme that clears acetaldehyde, the compound alcohol turns into first, which causes the facial flushing some people get from one drink.

Caffeine Clearance: Two positions in the regulatory DNA of CYP1A2, the liver enzyme that breaks down about 95 percent of your caffeine, setting how fast it leaves your system.

Caffeine Jitters: A variant in the brain receptor caffeine actually acts on, linked to how jittery or wired a moderate dose leaves you feeling.

Back to All Traits

Content updated September 2026.

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