Dominant genes?

[brownhairedmom]

If I'm part First Nations with dark hair and darkish skin (not that you can tell right now, I haven't seen the sun since last August pretty much, I'm white as a ghost), and Adam has the ginger gene, which one is more likely to be dominant???

 

[Freya]

ahhhh, the old ginger gene question.

The ginger gene is recessive (less dominant), so by rights your genes should dominate and dictate hair colour and skin tone (black/brown hair gene is dominant) BUT if you happen to have a ginger gene too - in the family somewhere lurking? ..... there is a chance it could then lead to a ginger bub. AT LEAST, this is what I recall from a biology lesson many... many... many moons ago....

 

[brownhairedmom]

I'm pretty sure there are no gingers in my family. Thank God. I'm going to think my baby is beautiful either way, but I may be half heart broken if I see red hair for about 20 seconds.

 

[Vickie]

Your baby will be beautiful no matter what, but the darker genes should be dominant. My hubby is Chinese so I'm pretty sure we'll end up with a darker skinned, dark haired baby.

 

[Samo]

DH and I are always battling on who's genes are stronger . He swears my "white" genes will show through, but i think baby will look more asian...baby will be 3/4 asian and 1/4 white afterall. Oh gawd, DH's grandma was SO THRILLED because our baby will be "the first white blood in the family" for their side oh geez...

My DH is pretty tan/dark skin complexion and i think our baby will take after him rather than my white/yellow light tone. I just think the darker skin tone is more dominant than the light.

 

[Blah11]

I'm a typical blonde hair blue eyed girl and my bf has a czech and italian background so he's very dark. I think the baby is going to be just like his daddy.

 

[jokasta]

You never know what will turn out with genes. Both my parents and both their parents had brown eyes and dark hair - typical Mediterranean. We are 2 siblings and we both came out with green eyes, fair skin and blond hair...Apparently we had a great grandmother and a great grandfather on both sides that had the genes and they survived 3 generations ! Odd if you think that the brown eyed genes are more dominant than the green - blue eyed, so you never really can tell what will happen.

 

[Sparky0207]

I dont get the genes thing! Both my parents have dark hair, fairly dark skin and blue eyes - I ended up with blonde hair, whiter than white skin and blue eyes! Where did the hair and skin come from?!!
There are some ginger genes in my mums side of the family and OH's uncle is ginger so what are the chances our little one will pick it up? OH has quite dark skin and very dark brown hair and eyes, any ideas?

 

[jokasta]

I dont get the genes thing! Both my parents have dark hair, fairly dark skin and blue eyes - I ended up with blonde hair, whiter than white skin and blue eyes! Where did the hair and skin come from?!!
There are some ginger genes in my mums side of the family and OH's uncle is ginger so what are the chances our little one will pick it up? OH has quite dark skin and very dark brown hair and eyes, any ideas?

We all carry genes that run back generations. If we have brown eyes we may still have a blue or green eyed gene as well. So you probably do have a ginger gene from your mother's side and so there is always the possibility that - even though it's not the dominant one - you can pass it on to your children or even their children.

I don't know if this makes any sense....

 

[Sparky0207]

Yes it does! Thank you ever so much!! Obviously I will love my little beanie unconditionally but I would prefer it if she had either my colourings or her dads - in fact his tanned skin with my blonde hair would be lovely!! rather than looking like her auntie or uncle!! Selfish, horrible mother I am!

xxx

 

[greenkat]

I was sure our baby would have blue eyes and blonde hair because me and my OH both do, (well he's grey haired at age 25 but used to be blonde) but I'm not sure after reading this thread. My sis and mum have green eyes so that's a possibility too I guess - there's a ginger gene lurking around too, lol.

Somehow it makes me more excited to meet LO to see what s/he'll be like!

 

[gemma24uk]

I'm pretty sure there are no gingers in my family. Thank God. I'm going to think my baby is beautiful either way, but I may be half heart broken if I see red hair for about 20 seconds.

the most dominant gene is your's 93% more agressive gene than ginger if that helps x

 

[PeanutBean]

Hey everyone, most genes are made up of at least a pair (in the simplest form anyway). Genes can be:
Dominant - they will always show even if the other half of the pair is different
Synergystic - they will mix and act together
Recessive - they will only show if both of the pair are the same

When eggs and sperm are made they get one half of each pair of genes (i.e. one of each chromosome pair). These then make the new pair again with one half from the Mum and the other from the Dad.

A general rule of thumb in colourings is that darker colours are usually dominant. So, dark will show up over ginger even if the baby has a ginger gene too, brown eyes are dominant over blue/green etc.

Here is an example:
My Mum has brown eyes. My Dad has blue. In order to have blue eyes my Dad has the eye colour gene bb (little b = blue). My Mum's genes could be Bb (big B = brown) or BB as brown is dominant.

When you learn about heredity you do these simple genetic crosses to learn what the chances are of a particular outcome. So imagine my Mum is BB, whatever egg she makes will have a B gene for eye colour. So every egg and sperm combination will have to be Bb. The baby will have brown eyes but have a blue recessive gene so will be able to have kid with blue eyes too.

If my Mum is Bb then a cross with bb then the new embryo could be Bb or bb. The ratio is 50:50 with every embryo made. As it happens my sister has blue eyes but the other 3 of us all have brown.

Other genes are more complicated and I think hair colour is too.

Somewhere in I think 2nd tri someone was talking about blood groups, this is the same principle. Hope that helps!

 

[nikky0907]

They were talking about it in the 3rd trimester...

Thanks PeanutBean,I think Margerle explained it to me in the same way..

I belive I have a BB,brown eyes,so even though the baby's dad has blue eyes,I'm pretty sure that Lola will have brown eyes...

 

[ryder]

My OH has blonde-red hair and freckles ALL OVER, he burns very easily in the summer, his family is of scottish decent. I have a more blond colored hair, it does has a slight red to it, I am very fair skinned though and alot of background from norway and sweden, I ever burn lol.

So there is no doubt what color our babies hair is. It wll be the skin color that is a surprise.

 

[Mervs Mum]

Hey Rae!! Dont diss the gingers!!!! We dont have any on either side but you talk about it like its as bad as a baby with 3 legs!!! Come on.....

 

[ella170]

you see some models with ginger hair and very white skin who are really beautiful. the only real downside to being ginger is possibly being more at risk from skin cancer and so having to take more care in the sun, but i think that pale skin is beautiful. one of my best friends is ginger and her mum is dark skinned portuguese with black hair and her dad has black hair (and no she's not adopted lol, she got the gene from way back in her dad's family), so i guess ANYONE can have a ginger kid!

 

[PeanutBean]

True about the gingers, I think that's what's known as a Stubborn Recessive gene! lol

My sister has gorgeous red hair and my parents used to joke it was the milkman (who was ginger) as my Mum's is pretty much black and my Dad's mousy. Then when my Dad grew a beard it was ginger so the truth came out! Actually I think my Mum's Mum's hair might have been on the red side.

 

[tinkerbelll]

DH and I are always battling on who's genes are stronger . He swears my "white" genes will show through, but i think baby will look more asian...baby will be 3/4 asian and 1/4 white afterall. Oh gawd, DH's grandma was SO THRILLED because our baby will be "the first white blood in the family" for their side oh geez...

My DH is pretty tan/dark skin complexion and i think our baby will take after him rather than my white/yellow light tone. I just think the darker skin tone is more dominant than the light.

my 3 children are 3/4 asian and are ALL DIFFERENT COLOURS, my eldest is tanned with black hair and brown eyes, my middle one is really pale (paler than me and im only 1/2) with very light brown hair and light hazel eyes and my 3rd is very dark (darker than his dad who is full asian) and as the darkest eyes ever! i think it just depends on how the genes mix, but im sure your little one will be beautiful no matter what

 

[brownhairedmom]

Oh, I'm not dissing them as such! Its just the only people I know with red hair got teased SO much...not something I'd want my kid to go through