Genetics and Other Musings

Richard just recently explained genetics to me for the 5th time. I learned about them in high school, took  several classes that explained them in college, but for some reason I cant keep the concept cemented in my mind. So, I thought I'd do a mini report so I could come back and reference it. Word of Caution: I just had Richard proof read this and apparently I'm still a bit off. Also, I am way oversimplifying it. If you want a nice scholarly paper on the topic follow this link or this link

What brought it up was we were talking about what color our kids' eyes might be. 

I can't use most of the common 'what color with my children's eye's be' charts because Richard and I both have eyes that don't really fit into the Brown, Green, Grey, or Blue categories

Here's what we are working with:

Richard's:

And Abby's:

Eyes can use 6 genes to define color. 

To get eyes like Richard's (hazel ) you need 3 dominant genes and 3 recessive genes.

To get eye's like mine (pale blue) you need 6 recessive genes.

On a side note when I tried to search for a proper name for pale blue eyes all I could find were song lyrics haha!

So here comes the math part. When we have kid's I will give them 3 of the genes and Richard will give them the other 3. I only have recessive genes to give, so it will be completely up to Richard what color our kids eyes are. (He disagrees with me and says that my egg will be bossy and choose whatever genes of his it wants and he can't be held responsible for my egg's choice)

If he sends his 3 recessive genes they will get eyes just like mine.

If he sends his 3 dominant genes they will get eyes just like his.

If he sends a combination of dominant and recessive they will end up with regular blue eyes.

So do a little probability math and here's how the lottery looks:

25% Hazel

25% Pale Blue

50% Regular Blue

However, this doesn't mean that if we have four kids 1 will have mine, 1 will have Richard's and 2 will be blue. The lottery happens every time. Also, I just recently found out that this method is only about 90% effective. Mostly the only thing we know for sure is we can't have a brown eyed kid.

But that is not all. My genes carry a nasty little secret. A few of my readers may not be able to tell that Richard's eye's are Hazel, to them they may just seem brown. This is because color deficiency runs in my family. It keeps my Mom and both of my brothers from seeing the numbers in these:

Color deficiency is caused by a little gene that attaches to the bottom of the X chromosomes. (Males=XY, Females=XX) It is a recessive trait so it is rare for females to show any symptoms. But if both of her X chromosomes have the gene then she will have color deficiency. Since both of my Mom's X chromosomes had the gene both Eli and Ben are color deficient. But since my dad's X chromosome was clean I don't show any signs of it. But I am still a carrier.

This means that if we have boys, they will have a 50% chance of being color deficient as well. 

As for probability on hair color?

 Brown Vs Blonde?

We have no Idea!

P.s. This is a pic of my hair after attempting the Sock Bun curling method, It was a little disappointing but think it is just because I have so much hair. I'm going to try a few tweaks and see how it goes.

P.p.s We are not pregnant, I've still got at least 5 years before that ;)