Polymorphism in normal human color vision and its mechanism

Earlier we reported that Rayleigh matches made by males with normal color vision fall into distinct groups, and proposed that this behavior reflects an X-chromosome linked polymorphism in the spectral positioning of cone pigments (Neitz & Jacobs, 1986). In the present experiments two different color matches were obtained from each of 60 color normal males. Comparisons of the data from these two matches allowed variations in color matching that are produced by individual differences in the spectral positioning of middle and long wavelength cone pigments to be distinguished from color vision variations caused by other factors. Considered together with findings from molecular biology and spectral measurements of individual cone pigments, these results suggest that among color normal humans: (1) there are discrete variations in both middle and long wavelength cone pigments, and (2) most individuals have more than three different cone pigment types.