If you do not have brown eyes, you are a mutant

TrickyDisco · Jan 31, 2008

Now this IS interesting..how many blue-eyed "freaks" we have on these boards?

Genetic mutation makes those brown eyes blue
People with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor, according to new research.
A team of scientists has tracked down a genetic mutation that leads to blue eyes. The mutation occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, so before then, there were no blue eyes.
"Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen.

The mutation affected the so-called OCA2 gene, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives color to our hair, eyes and skin.

"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," Eiberg said.

The genetic switch is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 and rather than completely turning off the gene, the switch limits its action, which reduces the production of melanin in the iris. In effect, the turned-down switch diluted brown eyes to blue.

If the OCA2 gene had been completely shut down, our hair, eyes and skin would be melanin-less, a condition known as albinism.

"It's exactly what I sort of expected to see from what we know about selection around this area," said John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, referring to the study results regarding the OCA2 gene. Hawks was not involved in the current study.

Eiberg and his team examined DNA from mitochondria, the cells' energy-making structures, of blue-eyed individuals in countries including Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. This genetic material comes from females, so it can trace maternal lineages.

They specifically looked at sequences of DNA on the OCA2 gene and the genetic mutation associated with turning down melanin production.

Over the course of several generations, segments of ancestral DNA get shuffled so that individuals have varying sequences. Some of these segments, however, that haven't been reshuffled are called haplotypes. If a group of individuals shares long haplotypes, that means the sequence arose relatively recently in our human ancestors. The DNA sequence didn't have enough time to get mixed up.

"What they were able to show is that the people who have blue eyes in Denmark, as far as Jordan, these people all have this same haplotype, they all have exactly the same gene changes that are all linked to this one mutation that makes eyes blue," Hawks said in a telephone interview.

The mutation is what regulates the OCA2 switch for melanin production. And depending on the amount of melanin in the iris, a person can end up with eye color ranging from brown to green. Brown-eyed individuals have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production. But they found that blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes.

"Out of 800 persons we have only found one person which didn't fit — but his eye color was blue with a single brown spot," Eiberg told LiveScience, referring to the finding that blue-eyed individuals all had the same sequence of DNA linked with melanin production.

"From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor," Eiberg said. "They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA." Eiberg and his colleagues detailed their study in the Jan. 3 online edition of the journal Human Genetics.

That genetic switch somehow spread throughout Europe and now other parts of the world.

"The question really is, 'Why did we go from having nobody on Earth with blue eyes 10,000 years ago to having 20 or 40 percent of Europeans having blue eyes now?" Hawks said. "This gene does something good for people. It makes them have more kids."
Click to expand...

Yah. Now I just feel like one of the X-men

source or livescience.com

333HE · Jan 31, 2008

I gots HAZEL EYES!!! I WIN!
But seriously, that's some crazy science there.

Schide · Jan 31, 2008

Yay! So what power do I get?

I hope it's shapeshifting.

Let's see...*hrrrrrngh* Awesome, I turned into a dorky overweight white guy! ...wait, damn.

rattrap007 · Jan 31, 2008

Now if only teleportation or eye blasts were genetically part of ancestry...

333HE · Jan 31, 2008

Bryan · Jan 31, 2008

You're all FREAKS!

QuinJester · Jan 31, 2008

Link to source?

Soundblaster1 · Jan 31, 2008

Interesting. That means I'm half mutant. (My mom has blue eyes, my dad has brown)

GetterDragun · Jan 31, 2008

My eyes change color from Blue to Gold depending on varying factors. What does that make me?

Zzeezz · Jan 31, 2008

Damn, I always new that if I was a mutant I'd get a crappy power.

EvaUnit13 · Jan 31, 2008

Aww, I'm normal...

Pravus Prime · Jan 31, 2008

What's the source on this?

Anyway interesting. I wonder if green eyes share a common ancestor as well as being another variation of mutant freaks.

Glad to be normal for once.

Razerwire · Jan 31, 2008

You are all muties! All of you! Freaks!

SPLIT LIP · Jan 31, 2008

I has brown eyes.

Atleast now, I can say I'm not a mutant.

Schide · Jan 31, 2008

GetterDragun said: ↑

My eyes change color from Blue to Gold depending on varying factors. What does that make me?
Click to expand...

Iridescent?

Deefuzz · Jan 31, 2008

I KNEW it!

eyeballkid · Jan 31, 2008

Van Morrison FTW!

Seth Buzzard · Jan 31, 2008

I'm normal, do I win a prize?

NGW · Jan 31, 2008

*looks at eyes*
Blue eh?

Well just call me NGW...man.

SPLIT LIP · Jan 31, 2008

Buzzbeak said: ↑

I'm normal, do I win a prize?
Click to expand...

If he gets one I want one.

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If you do not have brown eyes, you are a mutant

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If you do not have brown eyes, you are a mutant

TrickyDisco <b><font color=blue>Voted TFW2005's Sexiest Female

333HE HERSHEY'S GONNA EAT JOO.

Schide Buyer of Too Much

rattrap007 One meme mutha f’er TFW2005 Supporter

333HE HERSHEY'S GONNA EAT JOO.

Bryan ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

QuinJester T. Bison

Soundblaster1 The Heisenberg of Toys

GetterDragun Well-Known Member

Zzeezz Ambassador of Music TFW2005 Supporter

EvaUnit13 REBUILD

Pravus Prime Wields Mjolnir!

Razerwire 99 Problems... Veteran

SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

Schide Buyer of Too Much

Deefuzz Beard On! Beardmaster! Veteran

eyeballkid Old

Seth Buzzard R.I.P. Buzzbeak Content Contributor

NGW Rawr

SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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