Expert: Walter Hintz - 6/1/2006

Question
Has biology discovered a limited number of human skin pigments as that a complete color palette could be made including all possible skin colors? I've seen computer graphics people alter faces to make them of a different race so I am assuming they have some colors to choose from. Is there a complete list, or maybe there is a limited number of possible protein sequences for creating the color of melonin? Thanks.

Answer
 Hi James;
Skin color depends upon multiple alleles and as far as I know there is no real limitation to the number of possible skin colors. There are other physiological factors besides DNA that can alter pigmentation.  The computer graphics designed to alter faces are artificial.