Thursday, July 30, 2009

Eye color codominance?

Around my pupil is a thin layer of brownish/hazel. It is tiny, you can only see it if you are within about 6inches of me and pay really close attention. Then I have a bigger circle of a greyish-blue. And I have a dark blue that outlines my eyes. Is this an example of codominance? Does it mean anyting that the blue eye color is much more visible than the brown?



My mom has blue eyes, (her father has brown and her mom blue. Everyone on my grandma's side has blue while everyone on my grandpa's side has brown)



My mom is German with blonde hair



My dad has brown eyes (His father has brown and his mom have brown, and everyone has brown on that side too)



My dad is spanish with black hair.



My mom and dad have 6 kids.



All of us have blonde hair and blue eyes. Is it possible that my mom's genes are stronger than my dad's even though her genes are recessive? ( I really think its impossible that my dad was heterozygous for blonde hair)



Eye color codominance?

So, eye color isn't technically codominant. It's actually a really good example polygenic inheritance- where multiple genes influence a single trait, in this case, eye color. Visibility isn't necessarily the reason you observe the differing eye colors- its just that certain genes are coding for one region to be one color and the other, another.



As far as familiar similarities, its purely by chance that everyone is the same eye color. Now, there may have been a BETTER chance, so to speak, if many of the genes controlling eye color masked the affects of your dads genes and what they control, which is why everyones the same. Hair color is another example of polygenic inheritance, controlled by atleast 5 different genes.



Eye color codominance?

Genes or alleles aren't stronger or weaker. Recessive alleles code for a nonfunctional protein or one that isn't apparent in the presence of a dominant alleles protein.



Heresity is still a matter of chance; males and females should have an equally likely chance 50-50 of being born yet we all know families with four girls or 8 boys. Your mom's genes aren't stronger, just her eye color allele was what was passed along with your dad's recessive copy.

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