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As of 2010, as many as 16 genes have been associated with eye color inheritance. Some of the eye-color genes include OCA2 and HERC2. [9] [10] The earlier belief that blue eye color is a recessive trait has been shown to be incorrect, and the genetics of eye color are so complex that almost any parent-child combination of eye colors can occur.
Martin-Schultz scale. The Martin–Schultz scale is a standard color scale commonly used in physical anthropology to establish more or less precisely the eye color of an individual; it was created by the anthropologists Rudolf Martin and Bruno K Schultz in the first half of the 20th century.
The original Martin scale, summarized below, consists of 16 colors (from light blue to dark brown-black) that correspond to the different eye colors observed in nature due to the amount of melanin in the iris. The numbering is reversed in order to match the Martin–Schultz scale, which is still used in biological anthropology. In this case ...
Eye color, specifically the color of the irises, is determined primarily by the concentration and distribution of melanin. Although the processes determining eye color are not fully understood, it is known that inherited eye color is determined by multiple genes. Environmental or acquired factors can alter these inherited traits. [7]
And of course, the genes we inherit from our parents play a significant role in determining our eye color. There are two main types of melanin that contribute to eye color: eumelanin and pheomelanin.
The reason boils down to genes. A senior lecturer in biomolecular sciences at Liverpool John Moores University said, "What we know now is that eye color is based on 12 to 13 individual variations ...
The inheritance pattern followed by blue eyes was previously assumed to be a mendelian recessive trait, however, eye color inheritance is now recognized as a polygenic trait, meaning that it is controlled by the interactions of several genes. [57] Blue eyes are predominant in northern and eastern Europe, particularly around the Baltic Sea.
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