This is part 2 of our multipart series on Human Skin Color.

The genetics of skin color is complicated, involving more than a dozen genes and scores of cellular interactions throughout a series of different biochemical processes. In this video we outline the basic process of how eumelanin is produced, and identify a few key genes whose mutations can have a huge impact on how much pigment is ultimately produced.

For more information on the biology of human skin color, visit www.evoed.org.

Support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education program under Award No. DUE2020221