A new study has discovered more than 50 previously unknown genes related to eye color, and it turns out that the genetic mechanisms behind a simple issue like pupil color are quite complex.
An international research team led by King’s College London analyzed the genes in the eyes of 195,000 people from Europe and Asia to make the new discovery. The people came from a total of 10 community groups in Europe and Asia, and they had different eye colors.
Scientists thought there were only a dozen genes associated with eye color, one or two of which played a decisive role in color, with most people having brown eyes. This study found a total of 61 genes associated with eye color, 50 of which were previously unknown.
The team also found that people have different shades of eye color, even if they are all Asian. The reason behind this is similar to the reason why Europeans’ eyes vary from dark brown to light blue, both caused by differences in genes.
The researchers said the finding helps scientists further understand diseases like pigmentary glaucoma and ocular albinism, which are associated with pigment levels.
Co-investigator Manfred Kayser of the Erasmus University Rotterdam Medical Center in the Netherlands said the use of DNA to predict eye color has been widely used in anthropological and forensic studies, but is less accurate for predicting eyes that are neither brown nor blue. . This finding will greatly improve research in these fields and increase the accuracy of eye color predictions.
The study was published March 10 in the journal Science Advances.
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