Author Topic: Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin  (Read 93 times)

K A I N

  • Guest
Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin
« on: December 26, 2005, 07:17:12 AM »
Quote
In fact, several scientists said, the new work shows just how small a biological difference is reflected by skin color. The newly found mutation involves a change of just one letter of DNA code out of the 3.1 billion letters in the human genome -- the complete instructions for making a human being.

Quote
The work raises a raft of new questions -- not least of which is why white skin caught on so thoroughly in northern climes once it arose. Some scientists suggest that lighter skin offered a strong survival advantage for people who migrated out of Africa by boosting their levels of bone-strengthening vitamin others have posited that its novelty and showiness simply made it more attractive to those seeking mates.

These new white girls look hot ;D

Quote
The work also reveals for the first time that Asians owe their relatively light skin to different mutations. That means that light skin arose independently at least twice in human evolution, in each case affecting populations with the facial and other traits that today are commonly regarded as the hallmarks of Caucasian and Asian races.


Quote
Unlike most mutations, this one quickly overwhelmed its ancestral version, at least in Europe, suggesting it had a real benefit. Many scientists suspect that benefit has to do with vitamin D, made in the body with the help of sunlight and critical to proper bone development.

Sun intensity is great enough in equatorial regions that the vitamin can still be made in dark-skinned people despite the ultraviolet shielding effects of melanin. In the north, where sunlight is less intense and cold weather demands that more clothing be worn, melanin's ultraviolet shielding became a liability, the thinking goes.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html

Told you I was right  :D


« Last Edit: December 26, 2005, 07:26:28 AM by K A I N »