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Determining Eye Color

The Melanin and The Genes

eyes

Eye color is determined by the amount of a pigment called melanin that is present there in the iris of the eye.

Now, how much this amount is, is determined by the genes controlling pigment production.

Brown eyes have a good amount of this pigment, whereas blue eyes have less of it.

The cell nucleus comprises 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs of two each, one coming from each parent.

eyes

A gene is a length of DNA on a chromosome, it (the gene) being the basic unit of heredity.

Genes are arranged in the forms of alleles.


Blue Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


A person carrying two of the same alleles goes homozygous for that gene.


Brown Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


If alleles are different, the person goes heterozygous for that gene and one allele goes dominant over the other which goes recessive, i.e., not expressing itself.


Black Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


In incomplete dominance, the expression goes intermediate between the two alleles.


Dark Brown Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


In co-dominance, both alleles express themselves fully and simultaneously, e.g., blood group AB coming from allele A and allele B in their total expression simultaneously.


Gray Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


Eye color does not follow the simple dominant/recessive inheritance pattern of a single gene pair.

There are three gene pairs that control the human eye color.

Two of them are there on chromosome pair 15 and one, on chromosome pair 19.

The bey 2 gene, on chromosome 15, has a brown and a blue allele.


Hazel Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


The gey gene, on chromosome 19 has a blue and a green allele.


Amber Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


The bey 1 gene, on chromosome 15, has a brown eye color allele.


Dark Brown Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


Now, how they exactly interact with one another; through recessing, dominating, expressing themselves midway, or simultaneously full together; is not absolutely clear yet.


Steel Gray Eye

Eye Color
Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health


It seems there are some missing links yet to be discovered in order to understand the exact pattern of the eye color inheritance to be determined genetically.

The color genes produce enzymes which decide for the amount of melanin in the iris.

At the physiological and the anatomical level, the color of the eye is determined by the amount of a dark brown pigment - named melanin - present in the iris of the eye.


Melanin Determines The Eye Color
Melanin Determines The Eye Color
Credit: National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health


If the amount is much, the eye goes brown or even black.

If the amount is scarce, the eye turns blue.

With in-between amounts, the eye color may go gray, green, hazel or some lighter shades of brown.

If the amount is nil, the eye takes its hue from the blood vessels in the back of the eye and appears to be pink. Albinos are the example of this.



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