Are albinos the ancestors of whites?

Question

I see albino people occasionally but today I saw an African girl who appeared to be a complete albino. blonde hair, blonde eyelashes, white skin. It made me wonder if that is where white race appeared from, since first man was African. Differences in animals, say dogs, are due to selective breeding. traits don't just appear, but for some reason science books give us a very vague description of race, saying that Africans traveled to europe where they developed light skin. We never apply such a vague theory to animals, usually scientists will discuss natural selection, where mutations in the genes that manifest physically can be selcted by nature as advantageous. If an African man and his family lived in scandinavia for even 500 or 1000 years, I don't believe that he would eventually become white. If he had an albino offspring, however, could not that be naturally selected as an advantage in that climate?

Answer 1

Albinism is usually caused by a gene that eliminates pigments from expressing.

If technology did not exist, and dark skinned people moved to scandanavia, in 10,000 years they probably would have light skin.

The opposite is not true, however, as light skin is a lack of genes, and it's hard to mutate BACK to a previous condition.

Answer 2

Albinism is the genetic inability to produce melanin, the pigment in our skin.  Albinos can be found in any population and often have other medical problems.  From an evolutionary viewpoint, it is non-adaptive.

"Whites" are not albino--simply have less pigmentation than other populations.  There are albinos with "White" parents.

Despite the intuitiveness of the idea, albinos are not the ancestors of "White" populations.

Answer 3

No.

Albinism is caused by one gene.

Eye color, hair color, and skin tone are controlled separately by other genes.

Answer 4

NO! "White people" came about as humans migrated into colder regions. They adapted, and developed mutations from environmental pressures. THAT is how traits appear. The particular environmental pressure that caused adaptation was the lower levels of light available in Europe, compared to Africa. These early "Europeans" developed a lighter skin color because humans need a certain amount of vitamin D to remain healthy. Vitamin D is produced by the liver, and is dependent on the amount of sun exposure humans get. Humans with dark skin will develop bone diseases in low light areas (this was demonstrated when African slaves were first brought to England. They quickly developed rickets, a bone disease caused by a lack of vitamin D). Melanin is the chemical in the skin that affects skin color. The more melanin a person has, the darker the skin. Over time, humans in Europe developed less melanin, which also affects hair and eye color.

And you are mistaken. Of course environmental pressures can effect changes in genes (genetic mutations). THAT is what "natural selection" IS. Mutations occur randomly because of environmental pressures. Albinos would not have been "selected" as "more fit" even in a far northern environment, because they have far too little melanin for ANY environment. Too much vitamin D is just as harmful as having too little. And it takes approximately 1000 generations to bring about a complete change in skin color from black to white.

Answer 5

No, it is a genetic mutation. No mystery here. It doesn't happen very often and certainly makes life difficult for the albino. They have a hard time fitting in anywhere, bad eyesight, and quickly sunburn because of the lack of pigment in their skin.

Answer 6

Albinism (from Latin albus; extended etymology), more technically hypomelanism or hypomelanosis, is a form of hypopigmentary congenital disorder, characterized by a lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair (or more rarely the eyes alone).

It has nothing to do with race, rather it is genetic and can affect Blacks, Whites, Hispanics etc.

Answer 7

Albinism is a recessive genetic disorder. As of now there are about 3000 such genetic disorders. It occurs when both the parents carrying the same recessive allele marry and the probability of the incidence of the disease in off sprigs of such parents is 25%.

Answer 8

abino is a person that lacks pigment.  it is not a race but a defect in the gene code.  can happen in any color of race.

Answer 9

No. The white race is probably "depigmented" because of the necessity of getting Vitamin D in a place where there is not as much sun or because they simply did not need the pigment to prevent sun damage in northern climes.

Albinos are completely depigmented, even their eyes.

Answer 10

Being albino is a rare skin diorder in which your body produces no melanin.  Melanin is the skin pigment which you color. Whites have less melanin than blacks.

Answer 11

white skin is derived from a genetic mutation

being albino is a syndrome

Answer 12

Albinism is a genetic disorder that occurs in all races and most animals :

Albinism is a genetic disorder; it is not an infectious disease and cannot be transmitted through contact, blood transfusions, etc. The principal gene which results in albinism prevents the body from making the usual amounts of the pigment melanin. Most forms of albinism are the result of the biological inheritance of genetically recessive alleles (genes) passed from both parents of an individual, though some rare forms are inherited from only one parent. There are other genetic mutations which are proven to be associated with albinism. All alterations, however, lead to changes in melanin production in the body.[1