For the study, a team of researchers, led by University College London’s Kaustubh Adhikari, examined diverse population in Latin America. It was the first time when such type of analysis was performed on this scale, said Adhikari, lead author the study.
The researchers studied genetic data of over 6,300 individuals from Latin America. Men and women in the study were covering a range of ethnic backgrounds, as per the researchers. The team took intrinsic hair traits of the participants and then compared them with genomes.
IRF4 is a gene that has been found to be contributing to hair going gray, the study revealed. The gene is known for influencing hair color by storing and making melanin. People start getting gray hair with age. It happened because pigment cells stop producing melanin with time. The gene, IRF4, doesn’t directly cause gray hair, it helps in earlier loss of hair color, the researchers explained.
“IRF4 is involved in regulating production and storage of melanin, the pigment that determines hair, skin and eye color; Hair graying is caused by an absence of melanin in hair so the scientists want to find out IRF4’s role in this process”, said the researchers.
The researchers hope future studies will determine some other genes that may also contribute to gray hair. But the study has found at least one that could be responsible for gray hair.
A gene, called FOXL2, has been linked to bushy eyebrows, while EDAR gene is found responsible for East Asian hair types. There is one more gene, PRSS53, which is associated with curly hair.
By: Jeanne Rife.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations &
Research Unit, Flagship Records.
For The #FacebookTeam