Scientists have proven that no single gene regulates eye color

A study by researchers at the Institute of Cell Biology (IMB) at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research is the first to prove that there is no single gene. set eye color.

Instead, it was found that each individual's eye color was decided by several genes, although some genes were more powerful than others."Everyone has two types of genes, inheriting each part from father and mother, and these types may be the same or different," said Dr. Rick Sturm, researcher at IBM, who led the study.

It has been thought that eye color is a trait of Mendel's single genetic rule - in other words, brown eyes are superior to green, so a person with two brown genotypes, or one brown and one green will has brown eyes, and with only 2 types of green, no brown can create blue eyes

But the eye color genetic pattern with single genes is not enough to explain many types of eye colors that appear in humans. Instead, we believe that there are two main genes - one that controls brown or blue, and one that controls green or sepia - and some that alter this characteristic.

'So contrary to what was thought, both parents have blue eyes can still have children with brown eyes, although this is not common' Dr. Sturm compared this system as a shadow Light. 'The mechanism of deciding whether the eyes are brown or green is like turning on a light bulb, while the eyes become green or sepia is like someone removing a light bulb and replacing it with another'.

The study was conducted to clarify the role of the OCA2 gene in eye color inheritance and other pigmentation characteristics related to the risk of skin cancer in Caucasians, and to test nearly 4,000 twins in their age. their adolescents, siblings and parents for 5 years.

The discovery was published in this month's issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, and funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the US National Cancer Institute.

Ngoc Thanh