Yahoo! News – Gene Variants May Make Women See Red, and Burgundy reports on a recent study from the American Journal of Human Genetics:
A new gene study may help explain why she sees crimson, vermilion and tomato, but it’s all just red to him.In an analysis of the DNA of 236 men from around the globe, researchers found that the gene that allows people to see the color red comes in an unusually high number of variations. And that may be a boon to women’s color perception in particular, study co-author Dr. Brian C. Verrelli told Reuters Health.
That’s because the gene, known as OPN1LW, sits on the X sex chromosome. Women have two X chromosomes, one from each parent, while men have one X and one Y chromosome. Because women have two different copies of the “red” gene, the fact that the gene can have so many variations means it may especially aid women’s perception of the red-orange spectrum.
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Among the 236 samples of DNA they studied, the researchers found 85 variations in the OPN1LW gene. That’s about three times the number of variations one would see in any other “random gene” pulled from the human genome, Verrelli said.
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He and Tishkoff speculate that the gene variations may have been useful in humankind’s hunter-gatherer days, when sharp color perception may have helped women in their foraging work.
Sharp color perception may have helped women in their foraging work. Are they allowed to say that?