A team of international scientists have identified nine genes that are responsible for eyebrow colours.
Our eyebrows are one of the most recognisable visual traits and have an association with the colour of our hair. Now, scientists say there could be unique genetic components for both traits.
While previous research has identified multiple gene variants when investigating human eyes, skin colour and hair. However, at those time genes linked to eyebrows were not known.
For the study, the team included researchers from the Netherlands, Australia, Britain, China and America. They examined the samples of6,513 European individuals. Each colour was graded into four categories -black, red, blond and brown.
The results showed eight genes that affect eyebrow and hair colour, as well as a gene is known as C10orf11, which is the only gene found to affect the colour of eyebrows. "Based on the new discoveries, we can more accurately infer individual hair, eyes, skin, eyebrow colour and other phenotypic information just from a DNA sample," lead author Liu Fan, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a news portal.
Genes behind eyebrow colours also affect the production of pigment. Understanding more about pigmentation genes can help scientists better develop treatments for various diseases.
The study's findings were originally published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
