Situated in the south-west Pacific, about 1800 km north-east of
Australia, are Solomon Islands. Most of the inhabitants of this
island country are dark-skinned people called Melanesians. One
of the intriguing features of these people is the naturally
bright blond hair, which about 10 percent of them sport.
Surprised at the co-existence of blond hair with dark skin? Read
on to know the reason for the islanders' blond locks... Well, a
number of hypotheses like bleaching by sun and saltwater, a diet
rich in fish, and the genetic legacy of Europeans or Americans
have been considered for the origins of their blond hair. But a
new study has found that the naturally blond hair in Solomon
Islanders is due to variant of a native gene called TYRP1 that
plays an important role in the melanin biosynthetic pathway. The
findings were arrived at after analyzing the genetic makeup of
43 blond and 42 dark-haired Melanesians. Note that the variant
of TYRP1 gene is distinctly different from the gene that causes
blond hair in Eu