In the past, visitors to the Solomon Islands have assumed that the number of dark-skinned and dark-eyed natives with blond hair must be have European ancestors somewhere back in their bloodlines.
Many thought perhaps European sailors of the 18th and 19th centuries left enough of their DNA in the islands to produce blonds centuries later...in much the same way blue, green and hazel eyes turn up in Middle Eastern lands visited by Crusaders.
Some speculated that there may have been earlier, ocean-borne Europeans -- Vikings, perhaps, or some even earlier group -- who visited the Solomons in antiquity. Others speculated that there was perhaps a land route that brought the genes for blond hair across Asia and into the islands. The surprising discovery of
Caucasian graves in Western China made this seem plausible.
Eager grad students began looking at art and mythology from the islands to see if there were further connections between Europe and Melanesia. So the announcement in the journal
Science this week made for a lot of forehead smacking in anthropology departments. Geneticists, however are thrilled.
In 2009, researcher Sean Myles collected 1,000 DNA samples from local Melanesians. Working with the local chiefs for permission, he traveled from hut to hut, village to village across the Solomon Islands.
Back in the lab Myles and his colleagues discovered that the Melanesians' blond hair comes from a single genetic mutation that is theirs and theirs alone. It is recessive, so both mother and father have to carry the gene for them to have a blond child. Furthermore, this gene acts alone; in Caucasians a group of genes that work together determine hair color.
Looks like those hapless grad students looking for the genetic express from Northern Europe to Melanesia will have to find another thesis topic.
For more information, check out this article on the phenomenon of blond Melanesians from the
Body Odd.
