Your earwax’s wetness or dryness is determined by a mutation in a single gene. This is the finding of international researchers as they studied the genes of 33 populations worldwide.
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Earwax is secreted by glands known as ceruminous apocrine glands. Dry earwax is found in 95% of East Asians, while less than 3% of individuals of European and African descent have this type of earwax.
In other words, wet earwax is completely dominant among both Europeans and Africans.
A team of 39 scientists led by researchers from Nagasaki University discovered that the cause of this difference is the ABCC11 gene. This gene controls the behavior of a cell channel.
That cell channel regulates the flow of molecules that transform earwax, acting as a gateway into the cell, thereby affecting the type of earwax produced. Any mutation in the ABCC11 gene can alter the structure of the cell channel.
The research team suggests that this structural change in the cell channel likely first occurred in Northeast Asia and then spread throughout Asia, as well as to Indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Inuit, who have Asian ancestry.
However, it remains unclear why earwax appears. They speculate that the function of earwax is to trap insects, self-clean the ear, and keep the auditory canal from drying out.
Additionally, the relationship between earwax type and attraction has also been debated, as earwax is linked to the body’s scent glands. Since apocrine glands are also found in the breast, there are suggestions that a better understanding of how they work could provide clues about the mechanisms of breast cancer development.
Minh Sơn (According to BBC)
