Premium
Rethinking human pigmentation
Author(s) -
Brues Alice M.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330430320
Subject(s) - polygene , depigmentation , biology , locus (genetics) , skin color , eye color , evolutionary biology , genetics , melanin , gene , quantitative trait locus , artificial intelligence , computer science
Though pigmentation has been of interest to anthropologists for a long time, its inheritance, and particularly the reasons for the incomplete correlation of skin, hair and eye, is poorly understood. It is suggested that this is largely due to a lack of genetically plausible hypotheses. Taking into account racial and individual variation in pigment traits, and knowledge of pigmentation in other mammals, a minimum set of genetic factors for pigmentation in man is suggested. These include: (1) a set of polygenes affecting skin color only, (2) one locus for depigmentation of the eye, not affecting skin or hair, (3) one pleiotropic gene for reduction of pigment at all sites, and (4) one or more loci with multiple all eles producing blondness or rufosity of the hair in symmetrical patterns over the body.