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The secret of a natural blond

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Elucidating the molecular mechanisms responsible for changes in gene expression is important for understanding the evolution of morphological traits. A new study identifies the molecular basis of the association between KITLG and blond hair color, presenting an intriguing example of how a single DNA base-pair change in an upstream regulatory element can cause relatively large and specific downstream changes in phenotype.

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Figure 1: Effect of a single SNP (rs12821256) on hair color.

Debbie Maizels/Nature Publishing Group

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hopi Hoekstra is in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,

    Hopi Hoekstra

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  1. Hopi Hoekstra
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Correspondence to Hopi Hoekstra.

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Hoekstra, H. The secret of a natural blond. Nat Genet 46, 660–661 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3019

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