While it’s uncommon, black people do have blue eyes. It is thought that this rare characteristic stems from the Waardenburg syndrome, a genetic mutation.
YouTuber Cydnee Black has gotten much attention for her striking blue eyes. Unfortunately, she’s also received a lot of skepticism from viewers. People have claimed that her eyes are fake or that she wears colored contacts.
Origins
There’s a common misconception that eye color comes down to genetics and just one gene passed down from your parents. While brown eyes can be attributed to a dominant gene, blue eyes require a recessive gene from both parents. Blue eyes have been around as long as humans and are thought to be the result of a mutation from brown eyes. The basic explanation goes like this: the absence of melanin in the first layer of your iris allows light to pass through more easily, giving your peepers that blue hue.
However, according to a recent study by professor Eiberg, the truth is far more complicated. He has found that the major eye gene, HERC2, also affects skin color. In fact, there is a genetic switch at a particular location within the HERC2 gene that makes it either brown or blue.
Eiberg discovered that the majority of people with blue eyes have this switch on the H-1 haplotype. This group shares a single ancestor that lived 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. In contrast, people with brown eyes have a mix of haplotypes and have many different genes in their DNA that produce melanin.
The good news is that black people can indeed have blue eyes. This is because the switch on the H-1 haplotype is present in a small percentage of black people. This means that black people with blue eyes share a similar ancestor as Europeans with blue eyes.
In addition, studies have shown that people with blue eyes tend to live closer to the equator than those with brown eyes. It’s believed that this is due to a lack of melanin, which is produced in higher quantities in warmer climates.
It’s no surprise that people with blue eyes are most likely found in Scandinavian countries and Iceland, where it is very common to see residents with this trait. However, in other countries, such as in Africa, Asia, and Australia, it is rare to find a person with blue eyes. The reason for this is probably because a genetic mutation that turned the eye-producing gene off would have greatly decreased the chances of survival in a colder region with harsh winters.
Genetics
For more than a century, the prevailing view on genetics taught in schools is that eye color works like most other inherited traits, with two dominant brown-eyed genes giving a child a 100% chance of having brown eyes. In contrast, one recessive blue-eyed gene can produce a single child with blue eyes, a phenomenon illustrated by the classic Punnett square in most science textbooks. However, new research shows that the genetics of eye color are far more complex. In fact, eye color is controlled by two genes working together: the OCA2 gene controls pigment concentration in the iris (Image 1), while the HERC2 gene helps turn it on.
Until recently, scientists thought that the OCA2 gene was responsible for all blue eyes. But a study published in 2016 shows that HERC2 plays a more important role than OCA2 when it comes to forming blue eyes. The study involved analyzing DNA samples from around the world and finding that HERC2 variants that reduce OCA2’s function tend to result in blue eyes, while OCA2 variants that increase OCA2’s function tend to lead to brown eyes.
The researchers also looked at ancestry data from the same individuals and found that the variants in the HERC2 and SLC24A5 genes have different effects on eye color depending on the individual’s ancestry. For example, in people with Cape Verdean ancestry, the HERC2 rs12913832 allele confers blue eyes, while the SLC24A5 A111T allele is responsible for dark eyes.
A similar pattern was observed when the HERC2 and SLC24A5 variants were tested in Africans, Asians, and Europeans with various amounts of Cape Verdean ancestry. The HERC2 rs12913832 variant conferred blue eyes in those with the highest amounts of Cape Verdean ancestry, but not in those with the lowest. This suggests that an inherited mutation that confers blue eyes was present in early Cape Verdean settlers, but didn’t spread to other populations as easily.
The findings also show that other genes have more modest effects on both skin and eye color, suggesting that a combination of genetic mutations is necessary for producing someone with blue eyes. In other words, the new research supports the idea that all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor who had a genetic mutation that turned their brown eyes into blue.
Contradictions
In the early days of genetics, many people believed that eye color was a simple Mendelian trait. However, this is not true. It is actually a complex trait that depends on a number of genes, including ones related to the production of melanin. This pigment gives our skin, hair and eyes their color. Some people have very little melanin, and therefore have light colored eyes. Others have a lot of melanin, and have brown eyes. Then there are the rarer variations like green and hazel eyes, and even albino eyes that lack pigment entirely.
Blue eyes are much more common in people with European ancestry. However, there are a few black people with blue eyes as well. One of them is YouTuber Cydnee Black, who is famous for her piercing blue eyes. She has spoken out about the skepticism she faces when it comes to her eyes. In her most recent video, she discusses the fact that she keeps getting comments from viewers that don’t believe she has blue eyes.
She explains that she has addressed this issue before, but to no avail. Many of her viewers feel that she must be wearing colored contacts or is using some sort of trickery to achieve her eye color.
However, she says that it is important for people to remember that eye color is a very personal thing. She adds that she doesn’t like to discuss her eye color because it makes her feel self-conscious. She believes that it is a shame that her appearance is viewed in this way and that there is a deep-rooted problem in our society about how people look at each other.
Some researchers think that blue eyes may have been a result of interbreeding with Neanderthals. Others think that they could have been the result of a gene mutation. A professor named Hans Eiberg studied the DNA of 800 people with blue eyes from different parts of the world and found that they all shared the same gene mutation. This mutation prevented the body from producing the melanin that gives our eyes their color.
Misconceptions
Several misconceptions surround black people with blue eyes. These misconceptions are the result of lack of understanding about the biology behind the phenomenon and the different factors that can affect eye color. Some of these misconceptions can be very damaging, especially in a society that places such a high importance on beauty standards that are often based on superficial qualities.
The most common misconception is that the blue color in black people’s eyes is due to a mutation in the OCA2 gene. This is a genetic mutation that causes the eye to produce less melanin pigment in the iris. While this mutation is more commonly found in European populations, it can occur in any ethnicity.
Other misconceptions include the belief that only white people can have blue eyes, and that a person cannot have both brown and blue eyes. However, both of these beliefs are false. Brown and blue are two of the many shades that can be produced when a person has melanin in the iris, which makes it possible for a person to have both colors. It is also possible to have an iris that appears green or hazel, and there are even some individuals who do not have any melanin in their iris at all (these people are called albino).
A woman named Kavanagh Black is one of the most well-known examples of a black person with blue eyes. Her stunning irises have been described as resembling a sapphire and have captivated audiences worldwide. In addition, a Siberian Husky dog named Smokey is believed to have the bluest eyes in the world.
It is important to note that it is not uncommon for individuals of African descent to have blue eyes. This is because the OCA2 gene mutation that causes blue eyes can occur in any ethnic group. However, it is much more common for people with blue eyes to have ancestry from European countries.
A recent video by a black mother who has blue eyes went viral on social media after she was inundated with comments questioning her natural eye color. She responded to the comments with a video that explains her eye color in detail and provides scientific evidence that supports her claims.