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DNA Traits · Appearance

Eye pigmentation (SLC24A4)

How much pigment the iris holds, from blue towards brown.

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Evidence · Replicated

What the research found

In the cited research, the T allele at rs12896399 was associated with lighter eye pigmentation.

GG
Darker range
GT
Middle
TT
Lighter range
Modest effect

What the study found

In the study, each copy went with eye colour score from blue to brown on a seven step survey scale about 0.34 points lower on average.

23andMe research participants of northern European ancestry · 4,402 people · Table 4 (Eye color, rs12896399); sample size Table 1
Evidence
Genome-wide association with independent replication
Who was studied
European ancestry (Icelandic and Dutch participants; 23andMe research participants of northern European ancestry)
1000 Genomes Project

How common each genotype is

How common each genotype is in the 1000 Genomes Project, by region
RegionGGDarker rangeGTMiddleTTLighter range
All regions2,504 people58%33%10%
Africa661 people96%4%Not seen
The Americas347 people56%38%6%
East Asia504 people44%42%13%
Europe503 people34%46%20%
South Asia489 people45%44%11%

Among the 2,504 people of the 1000 Genomes Project, in five world regions. These percentages describe groups of people, never anyone’s chance of having a trait.

Ancient genomes

Through time

How often the studied letter was read in ancient people, era by era, in the region chosen.

Region
Through time: Europe
Before farmingbefore 6500 BC22%18 of 83 copies read
First farmers6500 to 3000 BC32%235 of 728 copies read
Bronze Age3000 to 1200 BC30%207 of 680 copies read
Iron Age and Antiquity1200 BC to AD 60042%515 of 1,218 copies read
Middle AgesAD 600 to 150044%586 of 1,337 copies read
Today1000 Genomes43%433 of 1,006 copies

Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes

Altai Neanderthal
No copies
Vindija Neanderthal
No copies
Chagyrskaya Neanderthal
No copies
Denisovan
No copies

Neanderthals and Denisovans carried the other letter, so this letter is younger than our split with them.

For most ancient people only one of their two copies can be read, so these counts are copies read, not people. Close relatives, repeated samples and samples the archive marks as unreliable are left out. Ancient genomes from the Allen Ancient DNA Resource (AADR v66): 15,136 people.
rs12896399

The marker

Gene or region
SLC24A4
Marker
rs12896399
Location
Chromosome 14 · GRCh37 92,773,663 · GRCh38 92,307,319
Letters studied
G and T, with T as the studied allele

A DNA Traits report reads this marker in your raw DNA file and shows which of the three genotypes is yours, with how common it is. It counts the copies of the studied allele; it does not measure the trait itself.

Marker
SLC24A4 · rs12896399
Location
Chromosome 14 · GRCh37 92,773,663 · GRCh38 92,307,319
Studied allele
T
Published statistic
beta -0.343 per T allele on the zero to six blue to brown scale, score 15.95 (P about 1.1e-16), n 4,402, within Eriksson's replication of known eye colour loci (Table 4); Sulem 2007: OR 2.06 per T for blue versus green eyes, P 4e-38, and OR 2.56 per T for blond versus brown hair, P 1e-48 (GWAS Catalog GCST000117 and GCST000118; the paper is not open access and its tables were not read); Simcoe 2021 Table 1 region 38: the neighbouring lead rs17184180, which has r2 0.98 with this marker in 1000 Genomes Europeans, gives beta 0.271 per its T toward dark brown, P 1.34e-284, n 157,483; Hysi 2018: hair colour beta 0.181 per allele, P 1e-100 (Table 4 (Eye color, rs12896399); sample size Table 1)
1000 Genomes Project phase 3, people with 0, 1 and 2 copies
All regions 1443 / 816 / 245 · Africa 633 / 28 / 0 · The Americas 194 / 131 / 22 · East Asia 222 / 214 / 68 · Europe 172 / 229 / 102 · South Asia 222 / 214 / 53
See this card in the sample report
Limits

What it cannot tell you

Almost always inherited together with the SLC24A4 hair-lightness marker, so those cards are not independent evidence.

Web-based, participant-driven studies yield novel genetic associations for common traits (Eriksson et al., 2010)
The same topic

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