%0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2018 %T Genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals of European ancestry identifies new loci explaining a substantial fraction of hair color variation and heritability. %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Valdes, Ana M %A Liu, Fan %A Furlotte, Nicholas A %A Evans, David M %A Bataille, Veronique %A Visconti, Alessia %A Hemani, Gibran %A McMahon, George %A Ring, Susan M %A Smith, George Davey %A Duffy, David L %A Zhu, Gu %A Gordon, Scott D %A Medland, Sarah E %A Lin, Bochao D %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Jan Hottenga, Jouke %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Sala, Cinzia %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Brumat, Marco %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Robino, Antonietta %A Yazar, Seyhan %A Hewitt, Alex W %A Chen, Yan %A Zeng, Changqing %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Hamer, Merel A %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Nijsten, Tamar %A Mackey, David A %A Falchi, Mario %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Hinds, David A %A Kayser, Manfred %A Spector, Timothy D %X

Hair color is one of the most recognizable visual traits in European populations and is under strong genetic control. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of almost 300,000 participants of European descent. We identified 123 autosomal and one X-chromosome loci significantly associated with hair color; all but 13 are novel. Collectively, single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with hair color within these loci explain 34.6% of red hair, 24.8% of blond hair, and 26.1% of black hair heritability in the study populations. These results confirm the polygenic nature of complex phenotypes and improve our understanding of melanin pigment metabolism in humans.

%B Nat Genet %V 50 %P 652-656 %8 2018 May %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29662168?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/s41588-018-0100-5