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Black baby girl with ginger hair11/10/2023 It is estimated that about ten percent of the population of Ireland is redheaded. In some places, such as Scotland and Ireland, red hair is more common. Red hair is relatively rare in the general population - according to estimates, only two percent of the global population have red hair, not accounting for those whose hair color originated from a bottle, naturally. Most of the subjects in the study were of European descent and other populations may have different versions of these genes, or other genes that affect hair color, and that we are yet to discover Few But Not Extinct In a study published in 2018 researchers examined 350 thousand people from the UK and found eight different genes, specific versions of which were associated with red hair, while carriers of other versions of these genes did not have red hair, even if they had two “redheaded” versions of MC1R. As with most traits, more than one gene determines hair color, and while MC1R is definitely the main player, a few other genes also affect the trait. While almost all redheads have two copies of the “redhead” version of the MC1R gene, not everyone who has two such copies will necessarily be redheaded. This is how a child of two non-redhead parents can grow a red mane, and this is also why red hair must be inherited from both parents and not only from one of them. In case one of the parents passed on a version of the gene associated with dark hair, for example, the individual will have dark hair and will simply be a carrier of the “redhead” gene, which he could pass on to his children. Red hair is a recessive trait, which means that only those who get two “redhead” versions of the gene, one from the mother and one from the father, will have red hair. This gene has several versions (alleles), one of which is related to red hair. As implied by its name, the protein that it encodes is a receptor that plays a role in pigment synthesis. The main gene that underlies red hair is Melanocortin 1 Receptor, or MC1R. This happens quite often and makes us wonder where this significantly different color came from? Did the child get his red hair from his father, whose grandfather’s uncle was, as told by his family, redheaded? Or maybe from his mother, who has a half-sister with red hair? The answer is almost always: from both. You may have met a redheaded kid, with flaming red hair and freckles on his nose, whose parents have dark or brown hair, without a hint of red.
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