Genetics and Health

SLC24A5 Gene for Skin Color

by Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD on December 16th, 2005

A couple of months ago, reader Matt H e-mailed me to ask:

Do they currently have a DNA test that can tell eye or hair color? If not, what makes it so complicated that they cannot do it yet?

New research may help answer Matt’s question. Scientists have found that a variation in the SLC24A5 gene, first discovered in zebrafish, appears to influence skin color in humans. This mutation results in fewer, smaller and lighter melanosomes, which determine skin color.

• Most people have the same version of the SLC24A5 gene. Correction (May 12, 2006): Dr. Keith Cheng of Penn State wrote to remind me that this statement is too ambiguous. We all have some form of the SLC24A5 gene. The Thr111 allele of the SLC24A5 gene was the most common in the European-American population samples (98.7 to 100%), while the Ala111 was more common in the African, Indigenous American, and East Asian population samples (93 to 100%).
• People of European ancestry have a different version of the gene than people of African and East Asian ancestry.
• People with mixed European and West African ancestry have lighter skin if they carry the European form of the gene.
• The SLC24A5 gene could control up to 38% of the variation in skin color amongst people with mixed European and West African ancestry.

Researcher Dr Mark Shriver Dr. Keith Cheng:

We can not expect to use human genetics to understand complex diseases most effectively without first working out how fundamental characteristics, such as eye, hair, and skin colour, are determined.

Working out the details of pigmentation with help from model systems like zebrafish is a great paradigm for seeking understanding of other complex diseases.

BBC News, December 16, 2005

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POSTED IN: General Genetics and Health