Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

The vision of Typhoon Lengkieki

Around 1775, Typhoon Lengkieki decimated the population in the Micronesian Pingelap Atoll, leaving only a handful of survivors to repopulate the islands. Their ancestors have a high incidence of the autosomal recessive disorder achromatopsia, or total colorblindness, and genetic analysis of the Pingelapese has revealed the mutation responsible.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Garrod, A.E. The Croonian lectures on inborn errors of metabolism. Lecture II Alkaptonuria . Lancet 2, 73–79 (1908).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Smith C: J. The detection of linkage in human genetics. R. Stat. Soc. B. 15, 153–184 (1953).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sundin, O.H. et al. Genetic basis of total colourblindness among the Pingelapese Islanders. Nature Genet. 25, 289– 293 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brody, J.A. et al. Hereditary blindness among Pingelapese people of Eastern Caroline Islands. Lancet 1, 1253– 1257 (1970).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Morton, N.E. et al. Pingelap and Mokil atolls: Historical genetics. Amer. J. Hum. Genet. 24, 277–289 (1972).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hussels, I.E. & N.E. Morton. Pingelap and Mokil atolls: Achromatopsia . Amer. J. Hum. Genet. 24, 304– 309 (1972).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Sharp, L.T. & K. Nordby. in Night Vision: Basic, Clinical and Applied Aspects (eds. Hess, R.F., Sharp, L.T. & Nordby, K) 253–289 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Rodieck, R.W. The First Steps in Seeing (Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachchussetts, 1998).

  9. Sacks, O. The Island of the Colorblind (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1997).

  10. Winick, J.D. et al. Homozygosity mapping of the achromatopsia locus in the Pingelapese . Amer. J. Hum. Genet. 64, 1679– 1685 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kohl, S. et al. Total colourblindness is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the α-subunit of the cone photoreceptor cGMP-gated cation channel. Nature Genet. 19, 257–259 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Arbour, N. et al. Homozygosity mapping of achromatopsia to chromosome 2 using DNA pooling. Hum. Molec. Genet. 6, 689– 694 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Carmi, R. et al. Lowering the burden of hereditary diseases in a traditional, inbred community: Ethical aspects of genetic research and its applications . Sci. Context 11, 391– 395 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sheffield, V. The vision of Typhoon Lengkieki. Nat Med 6, 746–747 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/77465

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/77465

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing