Only 1% of the world's population has red hair. It is caused by a recessive variation in the MCR1 gene that co

Question

Only 1% of the world's population has red hair. It is caused by a recessive variation in the MCR1 gene that codes for hair color. In 1-2 sentences, explain how this variation could have formed in ancestral DNA, and how it has led to red hair through viable errors.

GPT-5 mini · Accepted Answer

A spontaneous germline mutation (typically a point mutation or small indel) in the MC1R gene changed the receptor’s amino acid sequence and produced a loss- or reduction-of-function allele that is recessive. With two copies this altered MC1R shifts melanocyte pigment production from dark eumelanin to reddish pheomelanin, producing red hair — a nonlethal change that could persist and spread by genetic drift or local selection.

Only 1% of the world's population has red hair. It is caused by a recessive variation in the MCR1 gene that codes for hair color. In 1-2 sentences, explain how this variation could have formed in ancestral DNA, and how it has led to red hair through viable errors.

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