Genetics question -- Can one parent have stronger genes?

[Melissa in Australia]

Just be happy you're not color blind. My dh supposedly doesn't differentiate between green and red very well. Most of what is green, from what I understood, is supposed to look red, but when I ask him what color the grass and trees look to him he says green. Imagine: he's in an industry that needs to be able to determine good color.

Sometimes he swears a color is red or pink and it is actually a bluer green.

He got the gene from his mother, who is NOT color blind. Our daughters' will pass it on to their sons, if they have sons. Will the gene not pass on anywhere if they have no sons? All of his brothers are color blind too. His sisters are not.

Not hijacking a thread, really. Just genetics and eyes, but this really has to do with genetics.

 

 

My DH is colour blind to. Actually your daughters only have a 1 in 4 chance of passing on the colour blindness gene.

DH's brother is color blind as is his mother. He cannot see green or pinks at all. He can see deep red, but only if it is in bright light otherwise it looks brown to him.

[LibraryLover]

This thread made me think of Vivian Lake, the gorgeous and newly unveiled baby daughter of Giselle & Tom Brady. They are a fantastic case for evolution. ;)

[WishboneDawn]

What about when someone has eyes that change colors. Is that hazel of some sort? I have primarily green eyes, but sometimes they appear more blue-ish, and sometimes the green is mixed with a gray-ish color.

 

[kroe1]

 

 

What?? Sorrry-- dealing with smaller numbers(of kids) in this case does not mean genetics is not exact a science as "they think it is." Really, your statement alone shows you don't understand the concept very clearly.

 

 

Actually the first poster was correct when she alluded that genetics is "screwed up". The concept of recessive/dominant is too simplistic to describe human development. One also must understand that genes get "turned off" in some people, even if the gene is dominant. Also, some traits are controlled by several genes. Finally, some people are mosaics by having different genes in different cells. in actuality, chromosomes themselves are very dynamic and do not hold up well always or even perform 100% of their intended tasks.

 

And to the poster who wanted to know if hormones can influence phenotypes, the answer is most definitely "yes". Hormones can influence development directly by either turning "on" and "off" certain genes, or can interfere with the proteins produced by certain genes.

 

HTH

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Good classical homeschoolers would know from their Aristotle that the mother provides the matter of the child, and the father, the form.

 

This is how Dh would explain to people why Great Girl looked just like me but had his mathy brain.

 

Now if the ancients could only explain why Middle Girl looks just like my sister-in-law.

[LMD]

 

I do not understand this chart. Maybe it's just too early in the morning. But hopefully someone can explain this to me. I thought blue eyes were recessive but 6 of our 6 children have blue eyes, and only I have blue eyes. Dh has hazel eyes. My dad has BROWN eyes, my mom has blue. Dh's dad has hazel and his mom has blue. We have been rather surprised that every, single one of our children has my blue eyes.

 

Green is the most recessive I believe, so if you're DH's are green, gene-wise, then your blue trumps them. My friend has green eyes but her dh's blue eye's trumped. She was shocked to have a blonde, blue eyed daughter!

I was so impressed that one of my children got my hazel's, 1 out of 3 'aint bad?!

 

I do think that my DH's gene's are stronger, for want of a better word, because his gene's are less ethnically diluted than mine. I don't know if that's scientific or not... Everyone says our kids are all little clones of him.

[SJ.]

Hopefully I remember this correctly - in a physical anthropology course I took just a few years ago it was explained that eye color is a continuum, similar to skin color. As others have mentioned it isn't as simple as brown is dominant and blue is recessive. I want to say we learned that those with brown eyes are capable of producing offspring of any color while those with blue eyes generally only produce blue eyes. Therefore it shouldn't be surprising for parents with brown eyes or green eyes to have children with blue eyes. A brown eyed child born to parents with blue eyes is another matter but factoring in recombination, mutations, and the multitude of processes that affect gene expression maybe it is possible.

[SJ.]

I got curious and found this info:

Eye color is a complex trait that depends on the state of several interacting genes. The gene that usually decides the issue (blue eyes or brown eyes) is the OCA2 gene on chromosome 15. But it comes in different strengths. A person with a weak form of the OCA2 gene will have blue eyes. Likewise a person with a strong form will have brown eyes.

The plot thickens, though, because an individual also has other eye-color genes that each has a say in the final eye-color outcome. For example, if one of these lesser genes is strong, it can make the weak form (blue) of OCA2 work much more effectively — almost like the strong form (brown). Then the eye color may be a light brown or muddy grey. In fact, the resulting color can be any shade of brown, hazel/green, or blue depending on the strengths of the interactions.

 

And that is why two people with blue eyes can have a brown eyed child, though it is rare. Clear as mud?

 

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2004-10-14-wonderquest_x.htm

[fraidycat]

I have green eyes. DH has hazel. DD has dark, dark brown - almost black. DS has silver grey. We're a very varied lot around here. :)

[MistyMountain]

I find genetics fascinating. I have 3 kids with red hair and I have dark brown hair. My husband has red hair. I don't have anyone in my family with red hair but there are signs of it. My sister was very auburn and I have red highlights, light skin and freckles. Freckles can be a sign of having one copy of the red hair gene and in my case it does show that. Although it is much more complicated than 1 gene for each color and one wins out.

 

I have light brown eyes and my husband has green eyes. My mom has green eyes. Dh has a father with blue eyes and a mom with brown eyes. I have two kids with really dark brown eyes and one with green eyes. I think it is interesting I have 2 kids with eyes a much darker shade of brown than me when my husband has lighter eye genes to contribute. I'm sure there is some explanation for that. My guess is that maybe my mom contributed a blue gene to me and it combined with the brown to make a lighter shade and my kids got brown from me and green from dh.

[Paige]

My DH has brown/yellow eyes and I have light green eyes. My eyes do not look any shade of blue. My girls all have brown eyes like DH but DS has bright blue eyes. He has no hint of green or grey in them. I've had several people ask how he gets blue eyes. It would make sense that DH passed a blue gene and I passed a green and blue is dominant over green. It would make sense that I must have 2 greens since it is considered the most recessive. But- DS's blue eyes are exactly like my brother and mother's and nothing like the blue color of my MIL. That can't be a coincidence. I find genetics fascinating.