The colour red in the hair is very rare in the whole world. About one to two per cent of the people in the world are red-haired. Human skin and hair follicles contain some specific cells in the body that are known as melanocytes. The melanocyte cells are responsible for the creation of a particular kind of pigment known as melanin that is responsible for giving colour to the skin and hairs. Melanocyte cells produce two types of melanin: one is eumelanin, which is a brown-black pigment, and the other is phaeomelanin, which is a reddish-brown pigment. The color of one’s skin and hair is determined by the proportion of phaeomelanin and the eumelanin’s production by the melanocytes cells. If a person contains a more significant amount of eumelanin in the body than phaeomelanin, then that person will have the colouration brown-black colour (Guenther, 748). Whereas, if the proportion of phaeomelanin is higher than eumelanin as produced by the melanocyte cells, then it will result in pale skin and red hairs. The most widely accepted cause for red hair is a defect in the gene that codes for the Melanocortin 1 receptors (MC1R) protein.
The production of the Eumelanin is done by the conversation of the phaeomelanin to eumelanin in the cells of melanocytes. The process of conversation occurs when the MC1R, known as Melanocortin 1 receptors in melanocytes’ cell membrane, takes the signals from a specialized hormone named melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH). Melanocortin 1 receptors are a very active part of the persons having black hair, and these Melanocortin 1 receptors are very quick to respond towards the response of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone. The melanocortin receptors are located in the human chromosome and are encoded by the MC1R gene. The human body has a pair of the Melanocortin 1 receptors gene from both parents.
The production of the melanocortin one receptors is due to the mutation of the Melanocortin 1 receptors gene, and these are not reactive towards melanocyte-stimulating hormone. Due to this, there is no production of eumelanin, which results in the production of phaeomelanin, which is responsible for giving a red colour to hairs. The version of mutation of the melanocortin one receptor gene is deliberated as the recessive gene, while on the other hand, this mutation’s normal copy is considered as the dominant gene. For the development of red hairs, a person should have a pair of this recessive gene, one from the father and the other from the father. If a person has only one copy of that recessive gene, then he/she won’t be able to develop red hairs; instead, they are considered the carrier of the recessive gene.
There is a possibility of having children from nonred-haired parents. That aspect can be explained by using the idea of the autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance of genetics. When both father and mother carry a single copy of the recessive gene, there is a chance of almost twenty per cent of the development of red hairs. That child will receive the recessive genes of both parents. Moreover, in humans, yellow or reddish pigments exist that are chemically different from other pigments that are derived from cysteine and dopa, and they behave like bleached eumelanin (Maroñas, 13). Studies have shown that these looks may be, in fact, the variations in the structure of the eumelanin, which are rising from partial peroxidative cleavage of five to six dihydroxyindole units.
Work Cited
Guenther, Catherine A., et al. “A molecular basis for classic blond hair color in Europeans.” Nature Genetics 46.7 (2014): 748.
Maroñas, O., et al. “The genetics of skin, hair, and eye color variation and its relevance to forensic pigmentation predictive tests.” Forensic Sci Rev 27.1 (2015): 13-40.
