New Discovery about Blue Eyes

The Journal of Human Genetics recently published findings that all blue eyes can be traced back to a single genetic mutation.

Eyes become brown because of a pigment called melanin. Blue eyes have less of the pigment. The mutation which causes blue eyes works by turning off the gene that tells your body to produce melanin in the eyes.

The mutation was discovered by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, who believed that it occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago in someone living near the Black Sea.

The discovery indicates that all people with blue eyes descend from a common ancestor, because the variation is very specific and the same in all blue-eyed people. The variations causing other eye colors, such as green and brown, are more varied across the population of people with those colors.

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