Hello all, I was wondering how DNA works for eyes colors (recessive/dominant genes).
I’m an Asian mom (brown eyes) and my husband is Caucasian (brown eyes). Both our parents have brown eyes as well.
My first kid has brown eyes but my second has blue eyes. My husband’s maternal grandpa had blue eyes (would that explain the source of my second kid’s blue eyes ?).
Thanks for the explanation!
In: Biology
Hey, that’s a good question, maybe I can answer it with an example of myself: In my family everyone has green or brown eyes, has dark skin or can tan very dark and have black or brown hair. Im the only one who has curly blond hair with blue eyes and white skin.Later I found out that the last person with blue eyes used to be my grandmas cousin. And my great grandma had blond hair and white skin.
My background is: Mostly Caucasian, little percentage Asian
Eye colour isn’t as simple as did you get a recessive or dominant gene from your father and a recessive or dominant gene from your mother?
There are quite a few genes that are responsible for eye colour. There’s genes which determine how much melanin is produced overall, how much of it gets stored, how many places in the eye it gets stored and so on and so on and so on.
This can mean that there’s a lot of variation between eyes.
But yes, we can assume that a gene for blue came possibly from your husband’s maternal grandfather but it’s not that certain.
Approximately 15 genes can be involved in determining eye colour – some will regulate the overall production of melanin, some will affect the distribution, some will determine the structure of the iris, some what parts of the iris will reflect light, some when melanin production will kick in, and how etc etc etc. Some of these genes exhibit dominant traits, some do not. So you can carry a variation in any one of those genes, which will affect the probability of an outcome, but it’s not a 1-1 (or 2-1) straightforward outcome. Btw, many children, especially Caucasian ones, are born with blue eyes and keep them for anywhere between few months to a couple of years in childhood; I’m brown-haired and brown-eyed and was strawberry blond and blue-eyed until about 4-5 years of age.
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