Global patterns of diversity and selection in human tyrosinase gene.

ABSTRACT: Global variation in skin pigmentation is one of the most striking examples of environmental adaptation in humans. More than two hundred loci have been identified as candidate genes in model organisms and a few tens of these have been found to be significantly associated with human skin pigmentation in genome-wide association studies. However, the evolutionary history of different pigmentation genes is rather complex: some loci have been subjected to strong positive selection, while others evolved under the relaxation of functional constraints in low UV environment. Here we report the results of a global study of the human tyrosinase gene, which is one of the key enzymes in melanin production, to assess the role of its variation in the evolution of skin pigmentation differences among human

SUBMITTER: Hudjashov G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3770694 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature