Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Creation Moment 2/25/2021 - What "color" was Adam?

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground... Genesis 2:7

"Scientists have discovered that an important step in the production of melanin requires a protein called the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R). 

This protein determines which color pigment (eumelanin or pheomelanin) will be produced. The MC1R protein is on the surface of the cell, where it binds to another protein called melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH). 
 
This hormone is produced in the pituitary gland, which is a small structure near the center of the bottom of the brain. Mutations in both the hormone and the receptor have been linked to changes in the amount and type of melanin that is produced. 
For example, individuals with a loss of function mutation for MC1R may not only have red hair and fair skin but also skin that would not tan very well. Such individuals make little if any eumelanin but instead make the pheomelanin, which is the reddish-brown pigment. Albinism, where little if any pigment is made, results from mutations in another gene that prevents pigment production altogether.
Often when people consider skin, they think in simplistic terms (red, yellow, black, white) and fail to recognize the wide range of skin tones found in humans. 
 
Across the African continent, among those who would be called “black,” some are darker and some are lighter. Similarly, among those across Europe that would be considered “white,” some are darker and some are lighter. These results, when taken together, would imply that Adam and Eve likely had higher levels of melanin production and thus darker skin. Since genes linked to lighter color appear to be mutations and polymorphisms with significant variability, it suggests that lighter skin colors came later among their descendants, perhaps even after Noah’s flood." AIG