It turns out that there isn’t just one or even a few genes involved in skin color. INTRODUCTION. The long answer has to do with the parts of your DNA that give specific instructions for one small part of you. If skin color were inherited in a simple dominant or recessive pattern, like seed color in pea plants. What would be the genotypes of dark-skinned parents that could produce fair-skinned children? All hair, skin, and eye colors come from these pigments. 1989; Toyooka et al. In other words, more genes are having an influence over skin pigmentation, and only about 10 percent of these genes have previously been linked to changes in skin colour. New gene variants reveal the evolution of human skin color. Genes have a significant influence on skin because skin is made of so many proteins. In other words, your genes. Eumelanin comes in two forms, brown and black. For example, collagen, which forms the basic structure of your skin and gives it strength, is a protein. 2003). 3 to 4 ____ apply to multifactorial traits but may be difficult to follow because different genes contribute in … Study participants were also interviewed, and had their weight and height logged, while skin colour was measured using a device called a reflectometer . It is astonishing that in a few short years, our understanding of the molecular genetics of human pigmentation has progressed from asking simple questions about what type and how many genes underlie the diversity of skin, hair and eye colour to the identification of several of the major loci and polymorphisms responsible.There is a high degree of variation in colour (amount … The pigment melanin is responsible for dark coloration in the skin and there are at least three genes, which control for human skin color. Skin, eye, and hair color 3. People have two color pigments, eumelanin, which is brown/black, and pheomelanin which is reddish. Most evidence indicates that skin color is controlled by how many gene pairs? By Ann Gibbons Oct. 12, 2017 , 2:00 PM. Smart News Keeping you current Genetic Study Shows Skin Color Is Only Skin Deep Genes for both light and dark pigmentation have been in the human gene pool for at least 900,000 years How is skin colour controlled by genes? Examples of Polygenic Inheritance Skin Color. So is melanin, which is the pigment that gives your skin its color. « on: 11/09/2008 10:06:56 » Wells, Catherine asked the Naked Scientists: Hi, I understand about dominant and recessive genes in such things as eye colour, but was wondering how it is that if a black and a white person have … A couple can have a baby with a skin color that isn’t between their own. Most people associate Africans with dark skin. 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