WWYD with a genetics question----VERY long (sorry)

[Pamela H in Texas]

Okay, here is the question first: Would you, under ANY circumstances, be able to get a brown eyed child if one parent's eyes are blue and the other parent's eyes are green? What if both were "hazel"?

 

I put in (an eye calculator) parents with blue and green eyes with grandparents with all brown eyes and kept getting 0% chance of a brown eyed child (which was what I was expecting as brown is dominant). I tried a few different ways but this was the strongest combination I could think of.

 

Reason for asking is that we have THIS reason to doubt paternity of a young man. Just was asking for clarification.

Edited April 13, 2010 by 2J5M9K
Wanted to cut out story :)

[DianeW88]

If your husband has a recessive light eye color gene and light colored eyes and this child's bio mother also had light eyes (ie. NOT brown)...there is no way the child could have brown eyes as brown is dominant.

 

If the child's biological father had brown eyes, then yes...the child could very definitely have brown, but NOT with bio parents who BOTH have light colored eyes.

 

As far as grandparents go...they could both have had brown eyes, but each carried a recessive blue eyed (green, hazel, whatever) gene and gave birth to a child with light eyes, but not the other way around. That light eyed offspring could not have had a child with brown eyes, as he did not inherit ANY brown eyed genes.....or he would have had brown eyes himself.

 

Hope that wasn't as confusing as I think I just made it. :001_huh:

 

Diane

former peds nurse and now homeschooling mom

[Impish]

As far as I know, blue and green...everything BUT brown means a recessive gene is in play...so no, your dh couldn't pass along a dominant brown eyed gene, he hasn't got one...neither would someone with green eyes.

 

I wouldn't want to be another person who lied to this young man...but I wouldn't want to be another to hurt him either. I don't know what I'd do.

[jujsky]

My basic understanding of genetics from high school biology leads me to say it's impossible. Maybe there is some more in-depth genetic way that could be possible.

 

A DNA test would give you all the answer.

[Ester Maria]

Please don't take my word for this, I can ask my husband later, but I think it's possible.

 

The eye color, from the last time somebody tried to explain to me, is a bit more complicated issue than what's taught at schools using a single-gene model, and there are some cases that are impossible to explain using that model. Based on that they concluded that the eye color is being passed down via a two-gene model (meaning 4-alleles), and the thing gets even more complicated, since a third gene sometimes enter in and the gene suppression in some combinations is possible.

 

To explain pure blue, green and brown eyes you need a two-gene model, i.e. not the one you were taught in school. Basically, it's too complicated issue to judge it just off the eye color, I'd insist on a "proper" test if I were you.

[kokotg]

Okay, here is the question first: Would you, under ANY circumstances, be able to get a brown eyed child if one parent's eyes are blue and the other parent's eyes are green?

 

yes. Genetics is more complicated than they tell you it is in high school biology. It's also too complicated for me to really get, but here's an explanation my quick googling turned up:

 

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=101

 

ETA: my Dad has hazel eyes, and my mom has green eyes. I have blue eyes, and my brother has brown.

[KidsHappen]

I have blue eyes and my hubby has green eyes. Two of my dd have brown eyes. I have absolutely no doubt of their paternity. I don't believe that there are any brown eyed ancestors on my side of the family. All of my brothers, my mother and my father have/had blue eyes. One of my BILs may have brown eyes (I am not really sure about that). My hubby, one of his brothers and his father have green eyes. The rest of the family has blue eyes.

 

This has caused me concerns over the years as well especially when my girls were babies because they also had dark skin and hair and were born in hospitals. They also have A- blood while I have O+ and my hubby has A+. However, the second one turned out looking just like the first and the oldest one definitely resembles me and they all look like each other so I am pretty sure they are all mine.

 

They used to think that there was only one gene that coded for eye color and that two light eyed people could not have a brown eyed child. Through genetic testing they have since learned that several different genes contribute to eye color and that it is in fact possible and not even really that rare. I had to do extensive research to figure this out though. The blood typing issue was a walk in the park in comparison, my dad has A- so I must have that as a recessive gene as does my hubby.

[KidsHappen]

Please don't take my word for this, I can ask my husband later, but I think it's possible.

 

The eye color, from the last time somebody tried to explain to me, is a bit more complicated issue than what's taught at schools using a single-gene model, and there are some cases that are impossible to explain using that model. Based on that they concluded that the eye color is being passed down via a two-gene model (meaning 4-alleles), and the thing gets even more complicated, since a third gene sometimes enter in and the gene suppression in some combinations is possible.

 

To explain pure blue, green and brown eyes you need a two-gene model, i.e. not the one you were taught in school. Basically, it's too complicated issue to judge it just off the eye color, I'd insist on a "proper" test if I were you.

 

:iagree: This is correct.

[Perry]

Please don't take my word for this, I can ask my husband later, but I think it's possible.

 

The eye color, from the last time somebody tried to explain to me, is a bit more complicated issue than what's taught at schools using a single-gene model, and there are some cases that are impossible to explain using that model. Based on that they concluded that the eye color is being passed down via a two-gene model (meaning 4-alleles), and the thing gets even more complicated, since a third gene sometimes enter in and the gene suppression in some combinations is possible.

 

To explain pure blue, green and brown eyes you need a two-gene model, i.e. not the one you were taught in school. Basically, it's too complicated issue to judge it just off the eye color, I'd insist on a "proper" test if I were you.

:iagree:

 

Eye color inheritance is complicated. The only way to be sure is a DNA test.

[KidsHappen]

yes. Genetics is more complicated than they tell you it is in high school biology. It's also too complicated for me to really get, but here's an explanation my quick googling turned up:

 

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=101

 

ETA: my Dad has hazel eyes, and my mom has green eyes. I have blue eyes, and my brother has brown.

 

Thanks for this link. ;)

[Jann in TX]

I had a college Biology teacher tell me my Mom had to have had an affair because I could not possibly be my father's daughter!

 

I have type O- blood my parents both are O+ and their parents were both O+... I have a nice with O- and I recently found out one of my great aunts was O-... so genetically it IS possible..

 

Genetics is MUCH more complicated that what we were 'taught'... and the outdated information is still out there..

 

How many divorces or disassociations can be blamed on 'eye-color' genetics charts or blood type genetics charts? Way too many, probably...

 

Genetic testing is inexpensive if your husband has doubts I bet the child(ren) involved would be happy to have a definitive answer too!

[Alice]

As mentioned above, eye color (and hair color) is more complicated genetically than the simple Mendelian inheritance taught in high school.

 

My dh is Chinese and by the simple models our kids should all have black/dark hair and eyes since they are dominant (and presumably he doesn't have a recessive "light" gene given no known non-Asians in his family.) I have red hair and green eyes. All our kids have various shades of brown hair, some is reddish and my oldest was almost blond until about 3. My daughter has blue-grey eyes. Genetics are funny. :)

[Pamela H in Texas]

Diane, yes, that is what I got. Even if all 4 grandparents were brown eyed, two non-brown eyed parents can't have brown eyes.

 

And Christina, that isn't trusting an online thing so much as I was just verifying I completely understood, esp with mom having green eyes.

 

I did think my ds and A favored one another some, but A's FB pics have a definite hispanic look about them. Hubby says that isn't as strong in person. And he was a blonde little kid. Also, ds also seems to look VERY much like my stepbrother and obviously there is no family resemblance there. My mom says Ty just has a look that looks like many people.

 

But I have found this thread VERY interesting. I will run and tell hubby that it IS possible!

Edited April 13, 2010 by 2J5M9K

[Alice]

I had a college Biology teacher tell me my Mom had to have had an affair because I could not possibly be my father's daughter!

 

I have type O- blood my parents both are O+ and their parents were both O+... I have a nice with O- and I recently found out one of my great aunts was O-... so genetically it IS possible..

 

Genetics is MUCH more complicated that what we were 'taught'... and the outdated information is still out there..

 

How many divorces or disassociations can be blamed on 'eye-color' genetics charts or blood type genetics charts? Way too many, probably...

 

Genetic testing is inexpensive if your husband has doubts I bet the child(ren) involved would be happy to have a definitive answer too!

 

Actually blood-type genetics does usually follow the simpler rules, but it's still quite possible by those rules for two O+ people to have an O- child. Since the positive part is dominant both your parents could be +/- with a 25% chance of having a -/- child expressed as O- blood. (Even if bothttheir parents were O+ it still makes sense as both their parents could also be O+/- and 50% of their children would also be O +/-). I have a wiggly 6 month old on my lap so hope that makes sense....:)

[Danestress]

have brown eyes and my parents' eyes are blue and green. I look, move, and act a lot like my father, so I never really doubted my paternity, but I did as a friend who as a degree in genetics about it.

 

She had several ways to explain that this was possible, including the possibility that my eyes or my mother's eyes are technically hazel. To me, actually, my mother's eyes appear to be solidly green and mine decidedly brown.

 

Here is one article that maybe is the kind of thing she was trying to explain. http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2007/02/genetics-of-eye-color.html

[justamouse]

My kids are all blue and Dh and I are brown (mine more hazel). Our parent's are blue. People look at us and tell me they're not our kids-my kids eyes are BLUE, blue. Then I have to explain the grandparents.

Edited April 13, 2010 by justamouse

[SonshineLearner]

Funny... my child's dad and I have blue eyes... our daughter has.... greenish... hazely colored eyes... I had assumed they'd be blue...

 

:)

[Pamela H in Texas]

justamouse, THAT situation is easily explainable. I had never heard of it going the other way. So glad to see it's possible.

 

BTW, biomom would never submit children for a dna test. It's been court ordered twice and never happened. Of course, now that the children are adults (well, younger will be in July), they could do so if they'd like. But I kinda think that we're all so emotionally tied that it doesn't matter. Now if we can undo 19 years of junk....

[Sputterduck]

I had a college Biology teacher tell me my Mom had to have had an affair because I could not possibly be my father's daughter!

 

I have type O- blood my parents both are O+ and their parents were both O+... I have a nice with O- and I recently found out one of my great aunts was O-... so genetically it IS possible..

 

Genetics is MUCH more complicated that what we were 'taught'... and the outdated information is still out there..

 

How many divorces or disassociations can be blamed on 'eye-color' genetics charts or blood type genetics charts? Way too many, probably...

 

Genetic testing is inexpensive if your husband has doubts I bet the child(ren) involved would be happy to have a definitive answer too!

 

 

There is nothing complicated about that at all. At least one of your parents is a +-. That fits into a punnet square perfectly. Your teacher was an idiot, but that is still easy, straightforward genetics.

[justamouse]

justamouse, THAT situation is easily explainable. I had never heard of it going the other way. So glad to see it's possible.

 

BTW, biomom would never submit children for a dna test. It's been court ordered twice and never happened. Of course, now that the children are adults (well, younger will be in July), they could do so if they'd like. But I kinda think that we're all so emotionally tied that it doesn't matter. Now if we can undo 19 years of junk....

 

Well yes, but my Dh and his sister are brown eyed with blue and hazel parents.

[Ellyndria]

I majored in biology, so the question of, "But what about green and hazel eyes?" came up several times. The teachers/professors said that is more complicated because there are other alleles that also come into play, and also a matter of how those genes are expressed. The link that someone posted earlier explains it more fully.

 

Anyway, what I took from it was that if you have a parent that has green or hazel eyes, anything can happen. Some people who look like they have brown eyes might not even have a brown eye gene.

 

 

As an aside, I am often amazed at how many people don't have even a simple understanding of genetics, as in, "But both parents have brown eyes, how could the child have blue??" I thought most high schools required at least one year of biology for a science? I suppose I am grossly overestimating people's ability to remember even simple things, assuming they took the class. But then again I have had people tell me that I give people too much credit.

[Ellyndria]

The question of blood type is much easier. A and B are co-dominant, while O is recessive, and then the + is dominant and - recessive.

 

So for the person who is O- with both O+ parents (like me), that means that both parents have O+/O-, thus passing on the O gene 100% of the time, and the children will have - blood 25% of the time and the children will be - carriers 50% of the time.

 

For the person with A- kids, with the mom O+ and the dad A+, we know that both parents are a carrier of the -, so mom has O+/O-, and dad has A+/?-. The second one might be O, or might be A, but there's definitely a - in there.

[Sputterduck]

The question of blood type is much easier. A and B are co-dominant, while O is recessive, and then the + is dominant and - recessive.

 

So for the person who is O- with both O+ parents (like me), that means that both parents have O+/O-, thus passing on the O gene 100% of the time, and the children will have - blood 25% of the time and the children will be - carriers 50% of the time.

 

For the person with A- kids, with the mom O+ and the dad A+, we know that both parents are a carrier of the -, so mom has O+/O-, and dad has A+/?-. The second one might be O, or might be A, but there's definitely a - in there.

 

Right. I made a stupid mistake. lol Both of her parents must carry a -.

[cathmom]

It is possible. They have discovered that eye color is not simple dominant/recessive.

[Veritaserum]

It is possible. They have discovered that eye color is not simple dominant/recessive.

 

Yep. Dh has brown (with a little bit of green and gold) eyes and I have blue. Out of 5 kids, 3 have blue eyes, 1 has green eyes, and 1 has brown. :tongue_smilie:

[KidsHappen]

The question of blood type is much easier. A and B are co-dominant, while O is recessive, and then the + is dominant and - recessive.

 

So for the person who is O- with both O+ parents (like me), that means that both parents have O+/O-, thus passing on the O gene 100% of the time, and the children will have - blood 25% of the time and the children will be - carriers 50% of the time.

 

For the person with A- kids, with the mom O+ and the dad A+, we know that both parents are a carrier of the -, so mom has O+/O-, and dad has A+/?-. The second one might be O, or might be A, but there's definitely a - in there.

 

Yep, that's it exactly. We figured out the dad is A+/O- as one of the kids is O+ like me. I constructed a chart kind of like a family tree of blood types.

[JessaMae]

I never considered that we (blue/hazel colored eye parents) "couldn't have" a brown eyed child until I read this post. I was trying to think of someone I knew who were both blue eyed with a brown eyed child. duh! lol I have deep blue eyes, dh has icy blue/green -- 3 of our 4 children have blue eyes - 1 of our 4 has brown. So yeah it's possible :)

[Embassy]

As an aside, I am often amazed at how many people don't have even a simple understanding of genetics, as in, "But both parents have brown eyes, how could the child have blue??" I thought most high schools required at least one year of biology for a science? I suppose I am grossly overestimating people's ability to remember even simple things, assuming they took the class. But then again I have had people tell me that I give people too much credit.

 

Maybe they had a high school teacher like mine that told a student that she was not a product of her mother and father because of her eye color.

[LisaKinVA]

Okay, here is the question first: Would you, under ANY circumstances, be able to get a brown eyed child if one parent's eyes are blue and the other parent's eyes are green? What if both were "hazel"?

 

I put in (an eye calculator) parents with blue and green eyes with grandparents with all brown eyes and kept getting 0% chance of a brown eyed child (which was what I was expecting as brown is dominant). I tried a few different ways but this was the strongest combination I could think of.

 

Reason for asking is that we have THIS reason to doubt paternity of a young man. Just was asking for clarification.

 

YES. There are LOTS of instances of brown eyes showing up with 2 blue eyed parents, or green/blue eyed parents. eye color genetics (and hair color genetics) are not as simple as once believed.

[Mergath]

That's funny, I just read an article in a magazine I had lying around our bedroom from a year or so ago on this exact subject. It said that yes, it is definitely possible for two parents who have blue eyes to have a child with brown eyes. Like many others have said, it is far more complicated than we once thought. Eyes aren't just one color, period- they have layers of color, with different genes determining how much of a color gets layered in. Or something like that.

[Matryoshka]

ETA: my Dad has hazel eyes, and my mom has green eyes. I have blue eyes, and my brother has brown.

 

I think it is impossible to get a brown-eyed child if the parents have truly green or blue eyes - but hazel is different, and can often be confused with green or blue if it's a "light" hazel. Both my grandparents had hazel eyes, and my mom has brown. I think there are different "kinds' of hazel, but they all have a bit of brown mixed in there somewhere. My best friend's eyes are a light hazel - if you don't look closely, they appear blue or green - but they change, and if you do look closely, there's a light brown ring.

[Audrey]

Okay, here is the question first: Would you, under ANY circumstances, be able to get a brown eyed child if one parent's eyes are blue and the other parent's eyes are green? What if both were "hazel"?

 

I put in (an eye calculator) parents with blue and green eyes with grandparents with all brown eyes and kept getting 0% chance of a brown eyed child (which was what I was expecting as brown is dominant). I tried a few different ways but this was the strongest combination I could think of.

 

Reason for asking is that we have THIS reason to doubt paternity of a young man. Just was asking for clarification.

 

Don't rely on some ridiculous online eye calculator. If it is of real concern to you, then get a swab test, and don't go by what anecdotal drivel you find elsewhere!

[Hillary in KS]

Okay, here is the question first: Would you, under ANY circumstances, be able to get a brown eyed child if one parent's eyes are blue and the other parent's eyes are green? What if both were "hazel"?

 

I put in (an eye calculator) parents with blue and green eyes with grandparents with all brown eyes and kept getting 0% chance of a brown eyed child (which was what I was expecting as brown is dominant). I tried a few different ways but this was the strongest combination I could think of.

 

Reason for asking is that we have THIS reason to doubt paternity of a young man. Just was asking for clarification.

 

My eyes are hazel, though very definitely more green than brown. My dh's eyes are hazel, though more brown than green.

 

All three of our boys have brown eyes. I keep hoping I'll get a green-eyed boy, but none have shown up yet.

 

So, if both parents have hazel eyes, it is definitely possible. However, based on what I learned in college genetics, not possible if both parents have blue eyes.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Way to complicated for me. Check this out. Hope it helps

Edited April 14, 2010 by wy_kid_wrangler04

[*Inna*]

My eyes are hazel (mostly green), my husband's eyes are hazel (green, gray and a bit of brown). All three of our kids have brown eyes - no hint of green.

[LizzyBee]

As an aside, I am often amazed at how many people don't have even a simple understanding of genetics, as in, "But both parents have brown eyes, how could the child have blue??" I thought most high schools required at least one year of biology for a science? I suppose I am grossly overestimating people's ability to remember even simple things, assuming they took the class. But then again I have had people tell me that I give people too much credit.

 

My h.s. biology class was all about cell biology. I didn't have any human A&P or genetics until college.

[ereks mom]

My paternal grandmother had blue eyes; my paternal grandfather had brown eyes, and my dad's eyes were brown. He had one sibling with brown eyes and one with blue eyes.

 

My maternal grandparents both had brown eyes, and my mom and both of her siblings have brown eyes.

 

My eyes are green. I have one sibling with blue eyes and one with brown eyes.

 

And yes, I know for a fact that my parents are indeed my biological parents, and their parents are their biological parents as well. It was a running joke in our family that I belonged to the milkman--my dad was a milkman!

 

FWIW, my dh has brown eyes (his dad has brown eyes & his mom has green eyes). Both of our children have blue eyes.

Edited April 14, 2010 by ereks mom

[Charles Wallace]

Okay, here is the question first: Would you, under ANY circumstances, be able to get a brown eyed child if one parent's eyes are blue and the other parent's eyes are green? What if both were "hazel"?

 

I put in (an eye calculator) parents with blue and green eyes with grandparents with all brown eyes and kept getting 0% chance of a brown eyed child (which was what I was expecting as brown is dominant). I tried a few different ways but this was the strongest combination I could think of.

 

Reason for asking is that we have THIS reason to doubt paternity of a young man. Just was asking for clarification.

 

These replies are fascinating!

Edited April 14, 2010 by Charles Wallace

[Sputterduck]

My paternal grandmother had blue eyes; my paternal grandfather had brown eyes, and my dad's eyes were brown. He had one sibling with brown eyes and one with blue eyes.

 

My maternal grandparents both had brown eyes, and my mom's eyes are brown. I have one sibling with blue eyes and one with brown eyes.

 

And yes, I know for a fact that my parents are indeed my biological parents, and their parents are their biological parents as well. It was a running joke in our family that I belonged to the milkman--my dad was a milkman!

 

FWIW, my dh has brown eyes (his dad has brown eyes & his mom has green eyes). Both of our children have blue eyes.

 

But that's all quite expected with the BB, Bb, and bb punnett square. It's bb and bb making a B that people wonder about.

[lllll]

...

Edited December 17, 2012 by ksva

[OrganicAnn]

Even though it is not likely doesn't mean it is impossible.

 

I know a family with parent hazel and blue and had 2 blue eyed, one hazel and one brown. The brown looks exactly like the dad. I think maybe one grandparent or great grandparent may have been brown eyed.

 

My Brother and SIL have two blue eyed kids and my SIL has really dark brown eyes.

[asta]

I majored in biology, so the question of, "But what about green and hazel eyes?" came up several times. The teachers/professors said that is more complicated because there are other alleles that also come into play, and also a matter of how those genes are expressed. The link that someone posted earlier explains it more fully.

 

Anyway, what I took from it was that if you have a parent that has green or hazel eyes, anything can happen. Some people who look like they have brown eyes might not even have a brown eye gene.

 

As an aside, I am often amazed at how many people don't have even a simple understanding of genetics, as in, "But both parents have brown eyes, how could the child have blue??" I thought most high schools required at least one year of biology for a science? I suppose I am grossly overestimating people's ability to remember even simple things, assuming they took the class. But then again I have had people tell me that I give people too much credit.

 

My MILs entire life, she was told she had brown eyes. If you look at old pictures of her, that seems to ring true. By the time she was an adult in her 40s, though, her eyes were DEFINITELY a very deep green. She could see it, I could see it, anyone who was willing to get over their decision that she had brown eyes could see it. Eye genetics are not simple, nor are they what they seem on the surface.

 

For instance: red hair, pale skin, and light eyes all "reside" on the same gene. This is why you see blue or green eyed redheads who burn easily. To put it bluntly, when you see a redhead (usually one with very "coppery" hair) with very dark brown eyes who can get a dark tan, they are usually dumb as bricks. This is because something has gone spectacularly wrong with the gene. Why the dumb as bricks part, I don't know (I was told this by a geneticist).

 

Will you see light skinned, fairer haired redheads with lighter brown eyes of normal intelligence? Yes. And if you look at their parents, you will usually see that one of them has brown or hazel eyes and the other has light or hazel eyes. Or light eyes with flecks of brown, allowing for the brown to "come through".

 

Many genes "travel together", so it isn't as simple as a punic square, either simple or complicated. Any time I hear a parent whigging out over something like this, I always say "so go get a test" - it isn't the tens of thousands of dollars it was in the 70s.

 

 

a

[Liz CA]

Oh lala. This makes me wonder if blue eyes can come from several generations back? :)

My ds has true blue eyes, neither dh nor I are blue-eyed. Neither of dh's parents are blue-eyed, my parents are not blue-eyed, but I know one person with blue eyes was my maternal grandmother - don't know about my grandfather and dh did not know his paternal grandparents but from pics, it looks like they were both brown-eyed. Dh's maternal grandparents' eye color is unknown as well.

Needless to say, I know who is ds's father and I am sure I am his mother. :D

[TravelingChris]

I always knew that what I was thought in high school was wrong and it was more complicated that simply blue and brown. Dh has blue/grey but more blue. I have blue/grey/green. DS has blue. DD1 has predominately grey but likely grey/blue/green. DD2 with the red hair and very fair skin has blue/grey with more blue. What I find strange is DD1 who has darker skin that all the rest of us. It is just slightly darker and no one except our family considers her dark but she is more likely to tan than burn and we are the opposite. Both dh and I think it is because both of our fathers had tanning skin even though we inherited the very fair, burning skin. It is just one shade darker than us so while the youngest and I can share foundation, dd1 has a foundation one shade darker.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Just wanted to say thanks again. We're thrilled that it IS possible. We're very emotionally invested in this situation. The young man is 19 and it's time he got the chance to know his father :)

[jujsky]

 

For instance: red hair, pale skin, and light eyes all "reside" on the same gene. This is why you see blue or green eyed redheads who burn easily. To put it bluntly, when you see a redhead (usually one with very "coppery" hair) with very dark brown eyes who can get a dark tan, they are usually dumb as bricks. This is because something has gone spectacularly wrong with the gene. Why the dumb as bricks part, I don't know (I was told this by a geneticist).

 

 

a

 

I would be very careful of this stereotype. Most of the coppery-haired, brown eyed, able-to-tan people I know are of Eastern-European Jewish descent, so you're pretty much stereotyping a whole sub-set of people. None of the ones I know who fit this description are "dumb as bricks" either :glare:

[Ellyndria]

Oh lala. This makes me wonder if blue eyes can come from several generations back? :)

 

 

Absolutely. The % chance is not all that great as it keeps going from generation to generation, but that blue eye gene is recessive and could definitely keep getting passed on, not to show up until it meets another blue gene.

 

But then again, since eyes can change color over a lifetime, something might be affecting how his are being expressed and maybe he doesn't have true blue. Isn't genetics fascinating?

[hillfarm]

To put it bluntly, when you see a redhead (usually one with very "coppery" hair) with very dark brown eyes who can get a dark tan, they are usually dumb as bricks. This is because something has gone spectacularly wrong with the gene. Why the dumb as bricks part, I don't know (I was told this by a geneticist).

 

a

 

I haven't found this to be true either. A friend of mine and her mother both have coppery red hair and dark brown eyes, and tan beautifully. They are both very sharp cookies and women I admire. I would question any geneticist who would cast the aspersion "dumb as bricks" on any group of people he or she didn't know, or any group as a whole for that matter.

[asta]

I would be very careful of this stereotype. Most of the coppery-haired, brown eyed, able-to-tan people I know are of Eastern-European Jewish descent, so you're pretty much stereotyping a whole sub-set of people. None of the ones I know who fit this description are "dumb as bricks" either :glare:

 

It wasn't my stereotype. I was literally quoting a geneticist from the University of Arizona.

 

And he was not talking about "able to tan" - he was talking about very dark copper hair and very "tanned" (as in leather tanned) skin. I'd almost have to try and find a picture on the internet of an example, even if the hair was dyed in the photo.

 

 

a

Edited April 14, 2010 by asta

[lllll]

It wasn't my stereotype. I was literally quoting a geneticist from the University of Arizona.

 

And he was not talking about "able to tan" - he was talking about very dark copper hair and very "tanned" (as in leather tanned) skin. I'd almost have to try and find a picture on the internet of an example, even if the hair was dyed in the photo.

 

 

a

 

One of my high school friends had that dark red hair (thick and frizzy, too) and dark, freckled skin, plus giant, dark brown eyes. Her mother was 100% Seminole Native American from Florida. The dad was from the NC mountain region. My friend was in the "accelerated" classes (as they called them back in the late '60's and early '70's) - very intelligent. FWIW

Edited April 14, 2010 by ksva