I was just wondering...

I was sitting back at my brother's house looking at his black hair. I then turned my attention to my own brown hair. I wondered to myself, how can this be? I remember in school I was learning about genetics, with alleles and such. I was taught that both blonde and black hair are recessive to brown. My mother is naturally blonde and my father is naturally black. If they both display the recessive gene, then obviously they must be homozygous and not have the brown gene in them. For me to have brown hair, I would have to have it in me. But since neither of them have it... how can I o.O

I know it is probably a simple question, but I don't claim to be a geneticist. It was just something I've been wondering. And also, it is 100% certain that they are both my parents XD

I was sitting back at my brother's house looking at his black hair. I then turned my attention to my own brown hair. I wondered to myself, how can this be? I remember in school I was learning about genetics, with alleles and such. I was taught that both blonde and black hair are recessive to brown. My mother is naturally blonde and my father is naturally black. If they both display the recessive gene, then obviously they must be homozygous and not have the brown gene in them. For me to have brown hair, I would have to have it in me. But since neither of them have it... how can I o.O

I know it is probably a simple question, but I don't claim to be a geneticist. It was just something I've been wondering. And also, it is 100% certain that they are both my parents XD

I am no geneticist either, but I would think that there is either 1) more than two types of alleles for hair color or 2) more than one gene control hair color.

And regarding the question about your parents, no: no one can ever make that statement and be 100% sure. However, you can be reasonably sure that they are your parents, and the fact that they have different color hair does not disprove anything, so you shouldn't worry about it.

I am no geneticist either, but I would think that there is either 1) more than two types of alleles for hair color or 2) more than one gene control hair color.

And regarding the question about your parents, no: no one can ever make that statement and be 100% sure. However, you can be reasonably sure that they are your parents, and the fact that they have different color hair does not disprove anything, so you shouldn't worry about it.

I said IT IS 100% certain, not IS IT =P But thanks for your answer. Just a little something I have been wondering. I'd like to hear some other input aswell if anyone has it.

Genetics is not that simple, I would suspect for one that there is more than one gene that affects hair color.

But assuming that only one is of importance here, and your father has black-black and your mother blonde-blonde, you would have one allele of black and one of blonde. Therefore your actual hair color would be something in between.

The genetics of hair colors are not yet firmly established.

Are you sure he's your father?

Many people who look like they have black hair actually have the "brown" gene, but a very very dark variant, especially if they are Caucasian. My dad has hair like that, and my mom has brown. I have blonde hair. My sister has brown. So both my parents are Bb (B = brown, b = blonde). We're obviously both our dad's daughters, since we look more like him than we do our mom. I also have a strange toe muscle thing that my dad has, where I can move my big toe completely independently, like a thumb.

There is one gene for basic hair color (brown black red blonde) and multiple genes that interplay in complex ways that determine the highlights, tint, and darkness.

At least, that's one thing I've heard.

Here's another scheme I've heard: There is no such thing as a "black" gene, and it's simply a very dark brown, always. The reason people believed it was recessive is that your hair can't be darker than either of your parents' (skin is similar, by the way), so a light brown + a dark brown will usually be in between.

heyhey!

what students are taught in high school is mendelian genetics, where the particular gene is always, either expressed fully (dominant), or latent unless homologous (recessive). usually they give the examlpe of pea plant colours.

but i think(?) only a small portion of human traits follow dominant mendelian genetics and the rest are incomplete dominance or non-mendelian. wikipedia says "The genetics of hair colors are not yet firmly established. According to one theory, at least two gene pairs control human hair color." was told by my biology teacher that skin colour is also complex!

there are many strange things in genetics. we are taught the presence of Y chromosome makes a child male, hence XX/XXX/XO are female and XY/XXY/XYY/Y are male. however there are a few historical physiologically female people who have XXY genotypes! mendelian genetics is important but can't account for everything!

recommend this wiki page and links at the bottom for more info

Trust JiJi to know XD