Eye color is complicated. But until a few years ago, few scientists described it that way. As recently as the aughts, it was believed that eye color was determined by a single gene — brown, dominant; blue, recessive. It’s a rule many may remember from high school biology class when studying Gregor Mendel, considered the father of modern genetics. But recent research has helped makes things much clearer. In fact, eye color is determined by multiple genes. And, further, eye color is as specific to an individual as a thumbprint.
In one of the most recent studies, published in Science Advances in March 2021, a team of researchers out of King’s College in London who looked at the eye color of 195,000 people and determined there are dozens of genes for eye color. “[Our eye color is] one of the most striking features of the human face,” says Pirro Hysi, an ophthalmologist at King's College and one of the study's authors. The findings not only give us a better glimpse into understanding eye color but the research is expected to help scientists find cures for eye diseases such as pigmentary glaucoma and ocular albinism.
