The Genetics of Blonde Hair

Scientists have found that replacing of the DNA’s four letter  is the key  to genome shift a particular gene’s activity and that leads it to fairer in hair color. Over the time past six years  studies of genetic variation  in thousands of people have linked atleast eight DNA regions that heightened  basis of the blondness in people’s hair. Some of the base changes in the DNA letter  or single nucleotides  were in genes that involve in the production of pigment in someone’s skin and hair.The changes in the regulatory DNA could result in hair color not skin color change because regulatory DNA can change gene activity just in  certain parts of the body that is why if your hair changes color your skin will not and vice versa. The article  goes on say how in Northern Europeans the KITLG a single nucleotide polymorphism   was i strongly linked to blondness because it codes for a protein of specialized for it . The single nucleotide polymorphism had caught the eye of geneticist David Kingsley and he found this applies to fish, mice   as it does to humans.  There is a switch that regulates the of KITLG  which easier  to predict red and black color accurately based on the hair color related SNPS but it is harder to the blonde and brunettes. I liked reading this article because I learned that the genetic cause  and how the evolution occurred. The KITLG is active in many places in the body and now I know why many people have blonde hair instead of another hair color and how the effect of KITLG is specific to hair and not skin or eye color  which is quite unique an fascinating  compared the most pigmentation genes today which is what I had not expected at all before.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/06/genetics-blond-hairhttps://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140601-blond-hair-color-gene-mutation-science/

Blonde Genes,Do You Want Them?

Even people that are related and look exactly alike possess a very vast range of genetic variations in their DNA, genes that are responsible for how their body will develop, or responds to outer stimuli. Some of these different variants are known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The chemical units that make up DNA are represented by the letters A,T,C, and G. Although most people may carry a C at a specific place in their DNA, some might have a T instead. There have been millions of SNPs discovered in people's DNA. Some of them may be linked to increasing the chances of getting a certain disease. However, others may affect height or a person's appearance.

Previous research has linked a specific SNP with blonde hair in European people. Now Kingsley's group has provided proof that the SNP that induced blonde hair lies within a piece of DNA that is known as an enhancer. Enhancers are pieces of stretched DNA that behave somewhat like light switches, which allows the gene to turn on under certain conditions. They are located far far away from genes, It is like a light switch in England controlling a bulb in California. Although there is quite some distance, they still have the ability to control the gene's activity.

Kingsley's team genetically modified mice to carry the blonde enhancer. As expected, mice carrying that DNA change began to develop light-colored fur coats compared to the mice with another type of that enhancer. This new enhancer has the ability to control the action of a gene that was already known for affecting hair color. This can ultimately lead to less pigment production in the hair follicles, which will lead to lighter hair. This cannot affect eye or skin color.

I believe this is a great opportunity for those people who have an issue with their hair color. If they do not want their kids to have that hair color, this can be a way out for them.

Study suggests KIT ligand is responsible for blonde hair

Blonde Hair Gene Identified, written by Tia Ghose, states that blonde hair is a result of a mutation in a single gene sequence, the KIT ligand. So what exactly is the KIT ligand? The KIT ligand is a protein that binds to receptors throughout the body which affects the hair color of an individual and certain sections of the body. The KIT ligand affects everything from pigmentation of hair (skin color in fish), blood cells, nerve cells in the stomach, and sex cells.

How was this ligand discovered to affect blondes? The KIT ligand was first found to effect the coloring a species of fish. A study found that the change of one base pair in the KIT ligand resulted in the variation of pigmentation in the fish's color, which also relates to the variation of pigments in a natural blondes coloration of hair.

Overall, I thought this was a very interesting article, which answered many questions about the pigmentation of blonde hair. This article was very informative since I believed blonde hair was the result of several base pairs throughout the DNA only effecting pigmentation of hair. It was shocking to find that the ligand also affected blood, nerve, and sex cells.