The Color of our Skin – It’s in our Genes

MSNBC had a very interesting article today on a gene that has been identified that partially explains skin color in humans. They stumbled across this while looking for cancer genes in zebrafish, which come in a natural darker form and a human bred, lighter, golden form.

Then the scientists identified the human version of the gene, which has two main types — a version shared by Africans and East Asians, and a slightly different variant carried by nearly all Europeans. The researchers went on to show that this gene is partly responsible for light human skin in Europeans. This study appears in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

What’s interesting is the conclusion that it was a very small change to our genetic code which led to humans having very pale pigmentation, such as Europeans have.

It also pointed out that we still have much to learn, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit when science figures it out.

Why so many Europeans have one particular version of this gene is not yet clear. It is possible that the SLC24A5 version [of the gene] now seen in nearly all Europeans may have been useful for some specific reason and swept through a human population that gave rise to Europeans.

This new research does not conclusively explain why light skin might have been favored among Europeans, but the work is consistent with the longstanding but unproven hypothesis suggesting that light skin allows more absorption of the ultraviolet rays in sunshine that are necessary for making the essential vitamin D. Such a trait could have been favored at European latitudes.

The SLC24A5 gene, however, cannot explain all the differences in skin color in humanity. For example, Asians and Africans have the same version of the gene but quite different skin tones. More research will likely uncover other pieces of the genetic puzzle of human skin color.