What controls variation in human skin color?

Gregory S Barsh

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0000027

What controls variation in human skin color?

PLoS Biol. 2003 Oct;1(1):E27. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0000027. Epub 2003 Oct 13.

Author

Gregory S Barsh¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA. gbarsh@cmgm.stanford.edu

Abstract

There is a large range of human skin color, yet we know very little about the underlying genetic architecture. Is the number of skin color genes close to five, 50, or 500?

MeSH terms

Alleles
Genetic Variation
Humans
Models, Genetic
Phenotype
Pigmentation
Skin / radiation effects
Skin Physiological Phenomena
Skin Pigmentation / genetics*
Ultraviolet Rays