Why Messi has a red beard and dark hair? Science explains

Football player pictures Lionel Messi During the World Cup in Qatar, they drew attention for showing off the broad red beard and very dark hair. But why does this happen? The answer is in science.

The specific gene that causes red hair is MC1R Located on chromosome 16 – the structure It consists of nucleic acid and protein molecules🇧🇷 Its main function is to produce a protein called melanocortin 1, which is able to transform the type of melanin responsible for red tones (violmelanin) on the other hand responsible for the black tones (eumelanin).

MC1R is considered recessive, so both parents need to carry the gene for someone with red hair traits.

Thus, when a person inherits two mutated copies of the MC1R gene—that is, one from each parent—less pheomelanin is converted to eumelanin, Petra explained. Hack Blumspecialized in erfocentrumDutch national information center on heredity and hereditary traits. Vice Journal🇧🇷

“Pheomelanin builds up in the pigment cells and that ends up with red hair and pale skin,” he says.

Why is the hair dark then?

According to Haak-Bloem, hair color is genetically determined by “incomplete dominant genetic traits”, that is, there is no dominant gene, they all influence each other.

Therefore, when only one mutation in the MC1R gene is inherited, a man with dark hair may (or may not) develop a red beard.

Therefore, the difference in color occurs when the same gene behaves in different ways in different parts of the body, according to Nina Jablonski, a professor of anthropology at Penn State University in Live Science interview🇧🇷

Jablonski also says that the red beard phenomenon can also occur in some men who are generally over 40 years old. That’s because the pigment-producing cells in the scalp and beard have different rates of aging.

Remember that the red tint does not necessarily appear in the beard and only in men. Red hair can appear elsewhere on the body as well as in women.