cognition

TUSC3

Is This Magnesium Gene Affecting Your Cognitive Function? (TUSC3)

Written by Matt Carland, PhD on August 29th, 2019

You probably already know that the nutrients and minerals you get from your diet can have a profound effect on how well your brain functions. Today we’re going to be looking at TUSC3, a gene that significantly influences how well your body absorbs and transports the essential mineral magnesium. By affecting the overall levels of magnesium in your cells, this gene can actually have a significant effect on your overall cognitive ability!

What Does The TUSC3 Gene Do?

The TUSC3 gene codes for a protein called tumor suppressor candidate 3.

Despite what its name might sound like, the main function of the TUSC3 protein is actually to regulate the metabolism, uptake, and transport of magnesium throughout the body’s cells [R, R, R].

Magnesium is an essential dietary nutrient that is important for many different processes in the body and brain, including hormone signaling [R, R], DNA replication [R], producing energy for cells [R, R], and neuronal communication [R, R, R, R], to name just a few!

If you’re interested in learning more about the many different roles of magnesium, our comprehensive SelfHacked post on magnesium would be the best place to start! Here, we’ll instead be focusing primarily on this mineral’s role in brain function, and what your genotype for the TUSC3 gene can reveal about your overall cognitive ability.

The TUSC3 gene is responsible for transporting magnesium into cells. Magnesium is involved in many important biological processes, including helping neurons communicate with each other effectively.

TUSC3, Magnesium, and Brain Function

Because one of magnesium’s important functions is to help neurons to communicate with each other effectively, the variations that you carry in this gene can have a significant influence on your overall cognitive ability.

For example, rare mutations that delete this gene often result in significant intellectual impairments [R, R, R, R].

Although such dramatic mutations are quite rare, some of the more common variants of the TUSC3 gene have also been associated with differences in cognitive ability among otherwise normally healthy people [R, R].

Given what we know about the important role of magnesium in the brain, it is likely that the common denominator across these TUSC3 mutations is that they result in significantly reduced overall magnesium levels [R, R, R].

Low magnesium levels can therefore affect your cognitive performance by impairing your neurons’ ability to “talk” to each other effectively [R, R, R].

Magnesium deficiency can also cause other negative effects, such as accelerated cellular aging, which can further contribute to cognitive difficulties and other chronic health issues [R, R, R].

Certain variations in the TUSC3 gene can contribute to reduced levels of magnesium, which can negatively impact how well your brain functions.

Your TUSC3 Genotype

Below you can see your genotype for the TUSC3 SNP rs240657:

SNP Table

variant	genotype	frequency	risk allele
rs240657

The two possible alleles for this SNP are ‘A’ and ‘G’. When it comes to overall cognitive ability, the more common ‘AA’ genotype is the best one to have (which about 73% of people carry).

For example, a large-scale GWAS study with ~1,500 participants found that there were significant differences in the IQ scores of people with different genotypes for this SNP. People with two copies of the major ‘A’ allele came out on top with a mean IQ score of 112, which is significantly above-average! By comparison, people with ‘G’ alleles tended to have IQ scores closer to the general population average of 100 — and the more copies of the ‘G’ allele they had, the lower their relative scores were [R].

This significant difference in IQ scores suggests that carriers of the minor ‘G’ allele may have a copy of this gene that is less efficient at absorbing and transporting magnesium. This can lead to reduced cellular levels of this nutrient that, in turn, makes it harder for their brain to work to its full potential.

The ‘A’ allele of rs240657 is associated with above-average cognitive ability, whereas carriers of the ‘G’ allele tend to show relatively poorer cognitive performance.

Recommendations

If you carry bad ‘G’ alleles for this SNP, don’t worry just yet! Since this gene affects magnesium levels directly, its potential negative effects can be easily prevented or reversed by simply boosting your overall levels of magnesium [R, R, R].

In fact, boosting your magnesium levels may even directly translate to enhanced cognitive abilities, such as improved learning and memory [R, R].

It can also have additional benefits on your mental well-being, such as enhancing your mood, and reducing your long-term risk of depression and anxiety [R, R, R, R, R].

Magnesium supplements have also been shown to help fight against aging [R], reduce inflammation [R, R], and boost the body’s ability to make energy for its cells (ATP) [R].

Supplementing with magnesium is also very safe, and has been used by doctors for over 100 years to treat a wide variety of health conditions [R, R]. Additionally, over-expressing magnesium-related genes (including TUSC3, MAGT1, and others) in animals has also been shown not to cause cells to become overloaded with magnesium. This is important because it suggests that the body has built-in mechanisms to limit the amount of magnesium that cells take in, which naturally helps protect against toxicity — even if you happen to take a bit too much of it [R]!

Alternatively, if you’d rather not take supplements, you could also simply increase your dietary intake of foods that are rich in magnesium such as almonds, cashews, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, red meat, and seafood [R, R].

In addition to adjusting your diet and taking supplements, it would also be a good idea to get your serum and RBC levels of magnesium checked out with the Lab Test Analyzer, as this is the most direct way to make sure your overall magnesium levels are optimal.

Because “bad” variants of the TUSC3 gene reduce magnesium levels, the most straightforward way to counteract the potential negative effects of this gene is to supplement with magnesium.

Matt Carland

PhD

Matt received his PhD at the Université de Montréal in Neuroscience.

Matt holds multiple degrees in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. He has over a decade of experience in academic research and has published a number of articles in scholarly journals. He currently works as a neuropsychologist in Montreal, where he performs research on the links between personality traits and the development of clinical disorders such as addiction, compulsive gambling, and disordered eating.

Disclaimer

The information on this website has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration or any other official medical body. This information is presented for educational purposes only, and may not be used to diagnose or treat any illness or disease.

Also keep in mind that the “Risk Score” presented in this post is based only on a select number of SNPs, and therefore only represents a small portion of your total risk as an individual. Furthermore, these analyses are based primarily on associational studies, which do not necessarily imply causation. Finally, many other (non-genetic) factors can also play a significant role in the development of a disease or health condition — therefore, carrying any of the risk-associated genotypes discussed in this post does not necessarily mean you are at increased risk of developing a major health condition.

Always consult your doctor before acting on any information or recommendations discussed in this post — especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have been officially diagnosed with a medical condition.

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Is This Magnesium Gene Affecting Your Cognitive Function? (TUSC3)

What Does The TUSC3 Gene Do?

TUSC3, Magnesium, and Brain Function

Your TUSC3 Genotype

SNP Table

Recommendations

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Disclaimer

More cognition blogs

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