Light skin of UVA can penetrate deeply into the dermis in persons with light skin pigmentation with little protective melanin pigment. The characteristic of fair skin, red hair, and freckling is associated with high amount of pheomelanin, little amounts of eumelanin. This phenotype is caused by a loss-of-function mutation in the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene. However, variations in the MC1R gene sequence only have considerable influence on pigmentation in populations where red hair and extremely fair skin is prevalent. The gene variation’s primary effect is to promote eumelanin synthesis at the expense of pheomelanin synthesis, although this contributes to very little
Champagne gene The dun gene is responsible for flat, diluted coat colors and vivid primitive markings. Bay dun is thought to be the wildtype horse coat color. Dun does not affect skin or eye color, but dilutes red pigment to yellow and black pigment to slate gray. Champagne horses with the dun gene will have slightly further-diluted coats compared to non-dun champagnes, and will always exhibit striking primitive markings, such as a dorsal stripe and zebra-like stripes on the legs. The silver dapple gene in horses does not affect the eyes, skin, or red pigment. Chestnuts are unaffected, but in bay, seal