Pigmentation, pleiotropy, and genetic pathways in humans and mice
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Some of the most striking polymorphisms in human populations affect the color of our eyes, hair, or skin. Despite some simple lessons from high school biology (blue eyes are recessive; brown are dominant), the genetic basis of such phenotypic variability has, for the most part, eluded Mendelian description. A logical place to search for the keys to understanding common variation in human pigmentation are genes in which defects cause uncommon conditions such as albinism or piebaldism. The area under this lamppost has recently gotten larger, with two articles, one in this issue of the Journal, that describe the map position for Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) and with the recent cloning of a gene that causes X-linked ocular albinism (OA1). In addition, a series of three recent articles in Cell demonstrate (1) that defects in the gene encoding the endothelin B (ET{sub B}) receptor cause hypopigmentation and Hirschsprung disease in a Mennonite population and the mouse mutation piebald(s) and (2) that a defect in the edn3 gene, which encodes one of the ligands for the ET{sub B} receptor, causes the lethal spotting (ls) mouse mutation. 47 refs., 1 fig.
- OSTI ID:
- 236341
- Journal Information:
- American Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. 57, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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