Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Blue eyed humans have a single common ancestor


New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A group of scientists at the University of Copenhagen have found a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today. They originally said that all humans had brown eyes, but a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a "switch," which literally turned off the ability to produce brown eyes. The OCA2 gene codes for the P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin. This switch  limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris which is effectively "diluting" brown eyes to blue.  The mutation of brown eyes to blue represents neither a positive nor a negative mutation. It simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so. 
Original article here
Who is correct? An article arguing with the original article

7 comments:

  1. I think that it would make sense that all blue eyed people are the result of a genetic mutation. Since our ancestors originated in Africa and had dark skin and hair, it would make sense that they would also have dark eyes. As they moved north and started to have less melanin in their skin, it would make sense that their eyes eventually had the same mutation as their skin. I think it's interesting that one mutation 10,000 years ago lead to so much of the population having blue eyes today.

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  2. It is amazing that all of the blue-eyed people that have ever lived share the same one ancestor that walked the planet thousands of years ago. A genetic mutation seems like the likely culprit in all cases of a "switch" occurring throughout human history. It is interesting to wonder if another "switch" could happen in the future regarding eye color. If brown eyes could mutate and become blue eyes then I'm sure it is possible to mutate into other colors like purple, green, and yellow.

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  3. As I've heard this before, reading an article about was much more informing about this mutation. I, myself have blue eyes, and it would be really cool if we could discover who that single ancestor is.

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  4. That is unreal, just thinking on how every blue eyed person is linked to one common ancestor is nuts! I've heard of something like this but the article is more informative about the mutation which is fascinating. Good Post!

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  5. Nice post! It's fascinating how a mutation in a single individual can result in new traits across an entire population. This article leaves me wondering how other eye colors formed.

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  6. It's so interesting how this one mutation has lasted so long and spread so vastly if it started out with one ancestor. It makes me wonder what other genes can be traced back to a single ancestor.

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  7. Blue eyes are a very beautiful mutation! I think it is quite cool we are all related by a mutation! This just goes to show how one simple mutation that is not deleterious can affect many more generations to come!

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