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Albinism is a lack of pigmentation in the eyes, skin or hair; which is known to affect mammals, reptiles, and birds. It is an inherited condition resulting from the combination of recessive alleles passed from both parents of an individual
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Albinism Albinism is a lack of pigmentation in the eyes, skin or hair; which is known to affect mammals, reptiles, and birds. It is an inherited condition resulting from the combination of recessive alleles passed from both parents of an individual. Albinism is a disorder of amino acid metabolism that results in a hereditary lack of pigmentation of ocular or systemic tissues. There are many alterations of genes which are proven to be associated with albinism. All alterations, however, lead to an alteration of the melanin (pigment/coloring) production in the body. Cellular pigmentation is dependant upon a cell's ability to manufacture the pigment melanin. This is accomplished within organelles called melanosomes which reside inside cells called melanocytes. The melanocytes provide pigment for the skin (including eyelids), hair, and stroma of the iris. Inside the melanosome, melanin is synthesized from the amino acid.Melanin helps protect the skin from the sun's ultraviolet...
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