Genetic correlations among texture characteristics in the humaniris

[摘要] Purpose: To estimate the magnitude of genetic correlations amongfive general textural characteristics of the human iris.Methods: Color photographs of iris were available from 100monozygotic and 99 dizygotic twin pairs. Comparative scales wereconstructed based on ratings of the subjects' left iris. To explore thegenetic and environmental covariation among frequency of Fuchs' crypts,frequency of pigment dots, iris color, the extension, and distinction ofWolfflin nodules, and contraction furrows, a structural equation modelwith Cholesky decomposition was applied to variance-covariance matricesfor monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) pairs.Results: Significant genetic correlations fell between -0.22 and0.44 and accounted almost entirely for the phenotypic correlations amongthe iris characteristics. No evidence for individual specificenvironmental effects in common to the characteristics was found.Conclusions: The modest genetic correlations indicate that there islittle overlap in the genetic influence for these characteristics.Candidate genes with embryological and histological expression patternsin the eye could potentially influence the iris characteristics'variability.

[学科分类] 生物化学/生物物理