Are you a blue-eyed person? If yes, you could be a descendant of a single human! Scientists explain

Experts have suggested that people with blue eyes all over the world are somewhat linked. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen believe that a single gene handed down from generation-to-generation accounts for all blue-eyed people on the world.

Every eye colour is determined by variations in people's genes, with eye colour directly related to the amount of melanin in the iris’s front layer. The HERC2 gene is found in the millions of blue-eyed people around the world.

It is reportedly said that everyone with blue eyes is related to a common ancestor who lived between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. HERC2 blocks out the OCA2 gene, which everyone has in their eyes, and as a result, turns the eye blue.

Scientists said that OCA2 determines the amount of brown pigment the eye contains and so if it is blocked then the eyes stay a light, pale colour.

The same mutation found in people with HERC2 gets passed down from generation to generation with scientist now certain that this gene has been handed down time and time again originating from one single person.

The Copenhagen team discovered the first mutation and realised that it was shared by everyone with blue eyes.

This means, if one has blue eyes and are prepared to trace their ancestry far back enough, they are related to everyone else who has the same. Roughly eight to 10 percent of the population of the world are thought to have blue eyes.

Meanwhile, other research initially believed that if two parents had blue eyes their kids couldn't have brown eyes. This, however, has been found to be untrue by researchers who now think this theory is too simplistic.

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• Blue eyes
• Copenhagen
• HERC2
• HERC2 gene
• University of Copenhagen
• Scientists