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Genetic determinants of hair, eye and skin pigmentation in Europeans

Nature Genetics volume 39, pages 1443–1452 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Hair, skin and eye colors are highly heritable and visible traits in humans. We carried out a genome-wide association scan for variants associated with hair and eye pigmentation, skin sensitivity to sun and freckling among 2,986 Icelanders. We then tested the most closely associated SNPs from six regions—four not previously implicated in the normal variation of human pigmentation—and replicated their association in a second sample of 2,718 Icelanders and a sample of 1,214 Dutch. The SNPs from all six regions met the criteria for genome-wide significance. A variant in SLC24A4 is associated with eye and hair color, a variant near KITLG is associated with hair color, two coding variants in TYR are associated with eye color and freckles, and a variant on 6p25.3 is associated with freckles. The fifth region provided refinements to a previously reported association in OCA2, and the sixth encompasses previously described variants in MC1R.

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Figure 1: A schematic representation of how different genetic variants are associated with pigmentation.
Figure 2: Overview of the accuracy of pigmentation prediction based on genotype status.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the study participants from Iceland and Holland whose contributions made this work possible. We also thank the nurses at Noatun (deCODE's sample recruitment center) and the personnel at the deCODE core facilities for their hard work and enthusiasm. This work was funded in part by contract number 018827 (Polygene) from the 6th Framework Program of the European Union.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. deCODE genetics, Sturlugata 8, Reykjavik, 101, Iceland

    Patrick Sulem, Daniel F Gudbjartsson, Simon N Stacey, Agnar Helgason, Thorunn Rafnar, Kristinn P Magnusson, Andrei Manolescu, Ari Karason, Arnar Palsson, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Margret Jakobsdottir, Stacy Steinberg, Snæbjörn Pálsson, Jeffrey Gulcher, Augie Kong, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir & Kari Stefansson

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Landspitali–University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Fridbert Jonasson

  3. Department of Dermatology, Landspitali–University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Bardur Sigurgeirsson, Kristin Thorisdottir & Jon H Olafsson

  4. Department of Plastic Surgery, Landspitali–University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Kristin Thorisdottir & Rafn Ragnarsson

  5. Department of Anatomopathology, Landspitali–University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Kristrun R Benediktsdottir

  6. Comprehensive Cancer Center East and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Katja K Aben

  7. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Lambertus A Kiemeney

  8. Department of Urology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Lambertus A Kiemeney

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Contributions

P.S., D.F.G., A.H. and K.S. wrote the first draft of the paper. S.N.S., T.R., K.P.M., A.K., F.J., B.S., K.T., R.R., K.R.B. and J.H.O. collected the Icelandic samples and phenotypes. K.K.A. and L.A.K. collected the Dutch samples and phenotypes. S.N.S., T.R., M.J. and U.T. carried out the genotyping. P.S., D.F.G., A.H., A.M., A.P., G.T., S.S., S.P. and A.K. analyzed the data. P.S., D.F.G., S.N.S., A.H., F.J., L.A.K., J.H.O., J.G., U.T. and K.S. planned, supervised and coordinated the work. All authors contributed to the final version of the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daniel F Gudbjartsson or Kari Stefansson.

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The employees of deCODE Genetics own stocks and stock options in the company.

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Sulem, P., Gudbjartsson, D., Stacey, S. et al. Genetic determinants of hair, eye and skin pigmentation in Europeans. Nat Genet 39, 1443–1452 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2007.13

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