Every blue-eyed person on Earth is a descendant of one single human

It turns out that every single person with blue eyes on Earth is a descendant of one single human.

Eye really didn't see that coming.

Sorry, that joke was so cornea.

But the uncomfortable truth for anyone with blue eyes is that you all, apparently, share an ancestor.

And if my memory of GCSE Science serves me correctly, blue eyes are a recessive gene, meaning that both parents have to pass along the blue eye gene in order for their child to have blue eyes.

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Right, for those wondering how this is possible, they will first need to look at a study that found it can all be traced back to one person.

Healthline estimates that between 8 and 10 percent of the world's population have blue eyes.

And its rarity now makes sense, as scientists revealed that the genetic mutation came from a singular human who lived between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Researchers have tried to discover what caused this change by studying the OCA2 gene, which determines the level of brown pigment in the human eye, for many years.

However, it turns out that the genetic mutation that results in blue eyes is from an entirely different gene called HERC2, which completely turns off the OCA2 - and 'dilutes' brown into blue.

And how do they know that it all links back to a common ancestor? Because every single blue-eyed person has the same mutation.

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Although there’s still a lot more research that needs to be done, it’s thought that the mutation could have spread when humans migrated from Africa to Europe, which would go some way to explaining why mainly people of European descent seemingly have blue eyes.

The discovery was actually made back in 2008, when a research team from the University of Copenhagen initially tracked down the mutation.

The study also looked at the variation in other less common eye colours, such as green, which further proved the idea of one person originating the blue-eyed gene.

The author of the study, Professor Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, told Science Daily: "Meanwhile, people who have green eyes can be explained by the fact they have a reduced amount of melanin in the iris, which is very different to those with blue eyes.

"From this, we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor.

"They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA."

B-eye now!

Topics: Science, News, World News

Anish Vij

Anish is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2024 finalist. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

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