One Hundred Years Later….Eye Color Genes "Visualized"
Understanding the inheritance of eye color has been a challenge for decades. Most parents try to make their best guess about their unborn child’s eye color, hoping for that warm brown or the more rare bright blue outcome.
!["Eye Colors in Man," from The Trait Book, ERO Bulletin No. 6, by Charles B. Davenport (Archive Image #1913)](/oldimages/1913-Eye-Colors-in-Man-from-The-Trait-Book-ERO-Bulliten-No-6-by-Charles-B-Davenport.jpg)
"Eye Colors in Man," from The Trait Book, ERO Bulletin No. 6, by Charles B. Davenport, 1912 (Archive Image #1913)
Davenport and other eugenicists oversimplified eye-color inheritance early in the last century, and we have since come to discover that several genes determine eye color.
Recently, a group in the Netherlands has taken our understanding a step further by using high resolution imaging and analysis of nearly 6,000 individuals to identify eye-color using a color spectrum, while previous studies utilized color categories (blue, green, brown). The researchers photographed the subjects’ eyes and identified the color on a spectrum that evaluated hue and saturation. Then they conducted a genome-wide association study and found three new regions on chromosomes 1, 17, and 21 that contribute to eye-color-variation, adding to the seven already known genes. They claim that using their prediction model, 50% of eye-color variation can now be explained. Davenport wouldn’t believe his eyes!
Read more about the study here: http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2010/05/suspect_has_hazel_eyes_with_h.html
Print article | This entry was posted by Susan Lauter on May 17, 2010 at 12:05 pm, and is filed under Eugenics Archive. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. |