Scientists get £400k ...to create ginger mice
SCIENTISTS studying the origins of red hair have been handed a £400,000 grant – to create ginger mice.
Edinburgh University researchers will spend three years trying to crack the mystery of why some people – most notably Scots – are born with flame-coloured locks.
Using specially engineered rodents that include a copy of the human ‘ginger gene’, tests will be carried out to discover what produces red hair.
They hope to be able to create dark or ‘red-headed’ mice.
And although it may not seem to be the most useful exercise, the scientists hope that the experiment will prove vital in demonstrating the ways in which genes can be controlled – which in turn may help develop treatments for serious genetic diseases.
It is the latest in a series of experiments related to red hair led by Professor Ian Jackson of the Medical Research Council’s Human Genetics Unit, based in the capital.
He’s previously looked at how being ginger is apparently linked to having a higher pain threshold.
Last night, Emma Kelly, editor of the website for redheads, Ginger Parrot, welcomed the mice tests.
She said: ‘Research like this is important because it highlights the mechanics behind what creates red hair.
‘Knowing that it’s not abnormal or a malfunction, that the body’s natural default position is to produce red hair, not brown – this sort of knowledge can help empower people who are still being bullied or targeted. We’re not unusual or rare but we’re swimming against a tide of brunettes and blondes.
‘Ginger colouring is a live part of our British heritage and the whole world knows us for it.’
Mice were chosen for the study because they share a similar genetic make-up with mankind.
However, the ‘ginger gene’ behaves slightly differently in rodents so Professor Jackson’s team are breeding a strain carrying a complete copy of the human version of the gene.
The body’s default position is to create red or blonde locks unless instructed otherwise by the activities of the MC1R gene.
Within most people, it gives strong orders to produce darker hair.
Professor Jackson hopes the experiment will lay the ground for unlocking solutions to more complex genetic mysteries. He said: ‘What we are doing in this study is asking how normal genetic variants interact to result in a characteristic.
‘The case of red hair is simple as there are only a few genes involved, but with diabetes or schizophrenia, for example, there are many more involved plus non-genetic factors.’
He added: ‘I’ve never understood this prejudice [towards people with ginger colouring] which seems to me to be almost manufactured.
‘Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s there was never any adverse prejudice around red hair.’