Where did blue eyes come from Black Sea?
Where did blue eyes come from Black Sea?
“The mutations responsible for blue eye colour most likely originate from the north-west part of the Black Sea region, where the great agricultural migration of the northern part of Europe took place in the Neolithic periods about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago,” the researchers report in the journal Human Genetics.
Do blue eyes mean inbreeding?
Blue eyes are a recessive trait, and the gene must be inherited from both parents. (Green eyes involve a related but different gene, one that is recessive to brown but dominant to blue.)
Why did blue eyes evolve?
This gradient gave rise to the ‘vitamin D hypothesis’, which is the idea that light coloured skin, hair and eyes co-evolved as humans moved into latitudes where shorter days and summers meant they got less sunlight. His genes told them that while this man had dark skin and dark hair, he also had blue eyes.
Do blue eyes have any advantages?
People with blue eyes tend to have greater light sensitivity. Night vision is often better among people with blue eyes. A genetic mutation is responsible for blue eyes. People with blue eyes are more likely to have red eye in photos.
How are blue eyed people related to the Black Sea?
And all blue-eyed people are genetically related to a person who lived in the Black Sea region sometime between 6 – 10,000 years ago. The research was published in the Journal of Human Genetics. A mutation in a gene called OCA2 came into being nearly 8,000 years ago. It can be definitively traced back to an ancestor from the Black Sea.
Where are the mutations in blue eyes located?
This mutation, located within an intron in a gene called HERC2, reduces the activity of a neighboring gene called OCA2. The researchers located the same mutation in 155 blue-eyed individuals from Denmark as well as in 5 individuals in Turkey and 2 in Jordan.
Is the OCA2 gene responsible for blue eyes?
And that a non-working OCA2 gene is one of the steps needed for blue eyes. This is different than the results published last February that pointed to three DNA differences in the OCA2 gene itself that led to blue eyes. However, these three differences are very near the new difference and only explained about 2/3 of the cases of blue eyes.
How are blue eyed people traced back to one ancestor?
All blue-eyed people can be traced back to one ancestor who lived 10,000 years ago near the Black Sea. By MICHAEL HANLON. Last updated at 08:54 01 February 2008. Throughout history they have been the eyes that are prized. Frank Sinatra’s were legendary, Paul Newman’s melted a million hearts while Cameron Diaz’s dazzle in modern Hollywood.