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Eye Color in Humans
Name: Kristi
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
The dominant characteristic is the one most likely to
appear in the offspring. In human beings, brown is the dominant color
for eyes. The children who inherit at least on dominant gene will have
either brown, green, or hazel eyes. Only childten who inherit two
recessive genes will have pure blue eyes. If there are eight children
in the family, what color eyes will most of them have?
Replies:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/archive.htm
Search under eye color
Steve Sample
You answer is of course dependent on the genes of the parents. If both
parents do not have the recessive gene, then no children will have light
colored eyes. If one has a recessive gene and the other not, then still
no children will have light color eyes and on the average 25% of the
eight children could have the recessive gene. If both parents have the
recessive gene, then 25% of the eight children could have light color
eyes.
Dr. Myron
Remember that Punnett squares only determine PROBABILITY not actual outcome.
We all know families that have all boys or all girls even though odds are
that there will 50% of each. In the model you are using, there should be 75%
brown eyes and 25% blue. However, eye color is now believed to be polygenic,
or under the control of more than one gene. So if you inherit blue eyes,
what COLOR blue are they?
Van Hoeck
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Update: June 2012
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