The appearance of human eyebrows is not just a matter of grooming but is in the genes. Eyebrow thickness, as any other appearance trait, is highly heritable. Thus far, genetic knowledge on eyebrow thickness has been very limited and solely restricted to non-Europeans. The first genome-wide association study on eyebrow thickness in Europeans identified new genes as well as rediscovered some of the genes previously identified in non-Europeans.
“Natural variation in eyebrow thickness is one of the most conspicuous facial features,” said lead author Dr. Manfred Kayser, a researcher at the Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam and co-chair of the International Visible Trait Genetics (VisiGen) Consortium, and his colleagues.
“Understanding its genetic basis is of broad interest and has implications for dermatology and other fields.”
Previous studies were performed among Latin American and Chinese individuals, establishing four eyebrow thickness-associated genetic loci.
Because no European eyebrow thickness genome-wide association study had been reported, researchers did not know whether the genetic eyebrow thickness effects described in non-Europeans persist in Europeans, or whether there are European-specific genetic loci involved in eyebrow thickness, or both.
“Despite the immense efforts in mapping genes underlying human complex traits, we still know much more about the genes that make us sick than about those behind our healthy looks,” Professor Kayser said.
“For the first time, we performed a gene mapping study on eyebrow thickness variation in Europeans.”
“Previous genetic knowledge on eyebrow thickness was limited and solely restricted to non-Europeans.”
“We discovered new genes involved in eyebrow variation in Europeans and rediscovered some of the genes previously identified in non-Europeans.”
The researchers analyzed data from 9,948 individuals representing four groups of European ancestry.
They not only discovered three…
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