Eye color
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eye color or eye colour is a polygenic trait and is determined primarily by the amount and type of pigments present in the eye's iris. Humans and other animals have many phenotypic variations in eye color. In humans, these variations in color are attributed to varying ratios of the two types of melanin produced by melanocytes in the iris: eumelanin and pheomelanin. The brightly colored eyes of many bird species are largely determined by other pigments, such as pteridines, purines, and carotenoids.
Three main elements within the iris contribute to its color: the melanin content of the iris pigment epithelium, the melanin content within the iris stroma, and the cellular density of the iris stroma. In eyes of all colors, the iris pigment epithelium contains the black pigment, eumelanin. Color variations among different irises are typically attributed to the melanin content within the iris stroma. The density of cells within the stroma affects how much light is absorbed by the underlying pigment epithelium.
Determination of eye color
Eye color is an inherited trait influenced by more than one gene. In humans, three genes coding for eye color are currently known: EYCL1, EYCL2, and EYCL3. These genes account for three phenotypic eye colors (brown, green, and blue) in humans. Although it was once thought that brown eye color was always dominant and blue eye color was always recessive, the fact that two blue-eyed parents can give birth to a brown-eyed child has shown that the determination of eye color does not follow the simple rules of Mendelian inheritance, although this is so rare that scientists didn't even notice that it happens (perhaps 1 in 100,000,000) until recently. It is not like two brown haired parents who have a blonde haired child, because blonde and brown hair is the same gene pair. Eye color is the most demanding of any gene, due to the fact all four have to be a the same color or the eye color will not be pure, and will be mixed with each other (like blue-green). Eye color usually stabilizes when an infant is around 6 months old.
2007-01-07 13:13:59
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answer #1
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answered by fdm215 7
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Genetics. There is a code that dependent upon how many color genes your mom has in comparison to how many your dad has to figure out what your eyes will be.
2007-01-07 21:17:09
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answer #2
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answered by #1 Buckeye Fan!!!! 4
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DNA ,genetics
your family's mother and fathers side cousins aunts uncles.The ratio between dominate and recessive*
Brown eyes are the dominate gene most people have this color eye.
recessive is blue
green is half brown/blue
2007-01-07 22:23:46
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Genetics.
2007-01-07 21:11:32
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answer #4
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answered by palmettorose 2
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yes, genetics.. but if you're asking what it's called, it's the iris
2007-01-07 21:12:58
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answer #5
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answered by Emily 2
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I think it's all a bunch of nerves--that and heredity.
2007-01-07 21:12:43
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answer #6
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answered by whatevbookwrm687 4
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