Europeans and some Indians share the same light skin gene mutation, a new study has found.
Genetic studies done so far have helped in understanding the pigmentation genetics of Europeans to some extent, but South Asians, who represent wide range of skin colour have so far not been explored, K Thangaraj, senior lead author from the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here said.
The team of scientists led by researchers from University of Tartu, Estonia, CCMB and University of Cambridge have studied one of the important pigmentation genes, SLC24A5, and published their findings in PLoS Genetics, CCMB said.
"We studied a homogeneous cohort of India and found that SLC24A5 gene explains most of the variation of the pigmentation extremes and has a major effect on pigmentation diversity," Thangaraj said.
The study also provides the first detailed map of the genetic variant and shows that the light skin associated genetic signature is wide spread in Indian sub-continent with substantial variation among different ethnic groups, he said.
Re-sequencing of 11.74 kb of SLC24A5 gene using a global sample set have helped the researchers to unveil an important fact that Indians share the same mutation of SLC24A5 for their light skin as Europeans and belong to the same haplotype (study of heredity and etc) background, Thangaraj said.
"It was interesting to see that the effect of geographical, linguistic, socio-cultural boundaries further shaped by strict endogamy which forms the backbone of the South Asian genetic diversity was so strongly reflected in the complex patterning of this light skin allele (one member of a pair or series of genes that occupy a specific position on a specific chromose)," CCMB quoted Chandana Basu Mallick, first author of the study from University of Tartu, as saying.
