Blue eyes are not recessive

[brooksieb]

More common sence but in the world of science common sence probably does not account for much...

I think you're going for "sense"...

Sorry, my bad.

[Frigidus]

OK, I'm gonna bring out the dumbed down version. Let's say that the gene for "blue eyes" is b and for "brown eyes" is B. Each parent contributes one of these overall, for either BB, Bb, or bb. BB and Bb will give someone brown eyes, while bb will give some blue eyes. So if both parents have blue eyes they both are bb, and can contribute either b or b. Because of that, all their children will have blue eyes. The opposite occurs if both parents are BB. But if the parent is a Bb, they will have brown eyes can contribute either B or b. So, for two Bb parents, there is a 25% chance for BB, 50% for Bb, and 25% for bb. Therefore, one fourth of their children (on average) will have blue eyes.

I explained it pretty badly, but if you can wade through the poor wording that's the basic idea.

[jay_a2j]

OK, I'm gonna bring out the dumbed down version. Let's say that the gene for "blue eyes" is b and for "brown eyes" is B. Each parent contributes one of these overall, for either BB, Bb, or bb. BB and Bb will give someone brown eyes, while bb will give some blue eyes. So if both parents have blue eyes they both are bb, and can contribute either b or b. Because of that, all their children will have blue eyes. The opposite occurs if both parents are BB. But if the parent is a Bb, they will have brown eyes can contribute either B or b. So, for two Bb parents, there is a 25% chance for BB, 50% for Bb, and 25% for bb. Therefore, one fourth of their children (on average) will have blue eyes.

I explained it pretty badly, but if you can wade through the poor wording that's the basic idea.

In other words....if both your parents have blue eyes, you will have blue eyes (if not, check what color the milk mans eyes are)

If both your parents have brown eyes, you can still have blue eyes if each of them carry a "b" (blue gene), and pass it to you.



Once a "B" (brown) gene is passed it results in brown eyes.

[Nickbaldwin]

In other words....if both your parents have blue eyes, you will have blue eyes (if not, check what color the milk mans eyes are)

If both your parents have brown eyes, you can still have blue eyes if each of them carry a "b" (blue gene), and pass it to you.



Once a "B" (brown) gene is passed it results in brown eyes.

Pretty much, as long as your parents both have Bb, there is a chance that you will inherit both "b", and therefore have blue eyes. However, there is a chance your brother for example inherits B and B or B and b and therefore has brown eyes.

[jonesthecurl]

I got blue eyes.

Does anyone know why most kids are born with blue eyes then they change?

[Nikolai]

Because blue eyes are actually eyes without pigment.

There are actually (I believe) three different gene pairs for eye color, and how they relate is not well understood. There can be brown eyes, green eyes, or blue eyes, and any of the above can have a brown ring around the edge. You'll only have pure blue eyes if you have no gene pairs that put any color in. And the color is inserted over time with the person's growth, so that most children start with blue, or blank/no color eyes, and develop towards their final coloration.

[jonesthecurl]

Very informative.

The curlson started with pure blue eyes so I thought he was gonna take after me. Then they went a sort of tortoiseshell, various pigments together, just like my father - I thought he'd be the only one in the family to take after him. Finally he settled on brown, like his Mum.

[sam_levi_11]

my nan and grandad both had brown eyes, with no trace of blue eyes at all, they had 5 children, 2 of them having blue eyes ... so how can blue eyes possibly be recessive?.

Because they had recessive blue eye genes, and the only way you'd know that they had "no trace" is by actually analysing their genes, cuz it's, y'know, recessive. If it had been nt, they would have blue eyes, and probably the blue eyed ancestors of yours would have brown eyes. Year 9 biology beckons.

]

indeed, i remember them lessons well

[strike wolf]

What about hazel?

[jonesthecurl]

nuts.

[apey]

Eye genes are MIXED to create a color
so if you have brown/brown + blue/blue you can get brown blue or hazel eyes
I don't know if this was already mentioned but I saw a program on discovery or nat geo once
They used to believe that your eye genes were dominant or recessive but studies show that they are mixed to create their own color
which if you think about it makes better sense
How else would your eyes be as good as a fingerprint
If you had your mothers dominant brown eye gene then you would have the same eyes completely

I think

[john9blue]

Blue eyes are recessive, but blue-eyed people are more sexually attractive and therefore more likely to get laid, which propagates the genes to further generations.

At least, that's what I like to think.

[strike wolf]

as far as sex appeal goes nothing can beat green eyes though blue eyes do have their own special value.

[Kingdroid]

sure it started as a mutation, but a sit did not hinder the mutated populations growth it stayed alive, but if you have brown AND blue eyed genes, you will over 50% f the time get brown eyes.

Mutation? Where's the arguement for evolution?

mutation and evolution are the same thing

creatures evolve by random mutations

[Nikolai]

as far as sex appeal goes nothing can beat green eyes though blue eyes do have their own special value.

Heheh... I win, then. I have what they call hazel, which means I can have green, blue, or gray eyes - whatever I want - at any given time. Gold, I haven't figured out how to create yet, but it does happen.

[strike wolf]

when I'm in excited or any actual time when my adrenaline is pumping my eyes are green. When I am just in a nice calm mood my eyes are blue. When I'm sad I have a grayish-blue look to my eyes. Though since I'm normally just a bit hyper my eyes are usually green.

[HapSmo19]

mutation and evolution are the same thing

creatures evolve by random mutations

Well, since you peeled back the lid on that can of worms, would you consider blue eyes an advancement or an evolutionary cul de sac?

Keep in mind, this is for the fate of humanity......

[Frigidus]

mutation and evolution are the same thing

creatures evolve by random mutations

Well, since you peeled back the lid on that can of worms, would you consider blue eyes an advancement or an evolutionary cul de sac?

Keep in mind, this is for the fate of humanity......

Neither. Eye color doesn't affect your sight, so it's more of an oddity than anything. It's kind of like hair color, there's no distinct advantage.

[PLAYER57832]

How are blue eyes recessive? it's no doubt they are infact a eye mutation, but they do no harm in seeing, my nan and grandad both had brown eyes, with no trace of blue eyes at all, they had 5 children, 2 of them having blue eyes, (no the milkman did not do it.... ) even more of a bigger fact is before 9000 years ago people did not have blue eyes until a individual was born with blue eyes somewhere in the Ukraine. Moving on now over 50% of Europeans now have blue eyes (that's including countries like Greece) so how can blue eyes possibly be recessive?.

Brown + Brown = Brown

Brown + Blue = Brown/Blue

Blue + Brown = Brown/Blue

Blue + Blue = Blue

This is how they are not recessive, it's true if my nan and grandad both had brown eyes and my father had blue eyes it's pretty obvious they are not, same goes for 50% of the population of europe in 9000 years.

No, because each parent has 2 alleles.

MOM, with brown eyes, blue recessive has :
brown/blue = brown eyes


Dad, also brown eyes has:
brown/blue brown eyes



Baby gets ONE and ONE ONLY from each parent

so baby can be brown/brown = brown eyes

OR brown/brown = brown eyes
OR brown/blue = brown eyes

OR blue/blue = blue eyes

BUT, genes are not 100%. sometimes sections exchange with other sections (recombination) and don't exactly duplicate. Sometimes there are flat mutations (damaged or changed genes). Sometimes a third,seemingly unrelated gene will prevent the dominant gene from expressing itself, etc.



So, the short answer is if you have parents with brown eyes, and you have blue, then they each had blue recessive genes, with dominant brown eye genes.

[Nikolai]

mutation and evolution are the same thing

creatures evolve by random mutations

Well, since you peeled back the lid on that can of worms, would you consider blue eyes an advancement or an evolutionary cul de sac?

Keep in mind, this is for the fate of humanity......

Neither. Eye color doesn't affect your sight, so it's more of an oddity than anything. It's kind of like hair color, there's no distinct advantage.

Might not affect your sight, but that doesn't have much to do with evolution. For instance, if, as has already been postulated, blue eyes are sexy, blue eyes are better in evolutionary terms. More baybeez! Also, if blue eyes can be more memorable, or can stand out of a crowd more, or anything else that would lead to more sex... well, more kids really... they are an evolutionary advantage. (If you buy the theory as Darwin puts it... which most people don't.)

Oh... way to come in way, WAY late, PLAYER57832.

[Frigidus]

Neither. Eye color doesn't affect your sight, so it's more of an oddity than anything. It's kind of like hair color, there's no distinct advantage.

Might not affect your sight, but that doesn't have much to do with evolution. For instance, if, as has already been postulated, blue eyes are sexy, blue eyes are better in evolutionary terms. More baybeez! Also, if blue eyes can be more memorable, or can stand out of a crowd more, or anything else that would lead to more sex... well, more kids really... they are an evolutionary advantage. (If you buy the theory as Darwin puts it... which most people don't.)

Good point. Well, having recently finished 'The Selfish Gene', I'm going to give an answer along the lines of Dawkins.

A truly successful gene is one that not only helps it's possessor in some way, but on that also encourages the gene's overall success by encouraging a certain measure of altruism to those that share that particular gene. In simpler terms, a good example would be that those with blue eyes tend to prefer those who also have blue eyes, as your preference would give a slight evolutionary advantage. This also might explain, to some degree, racism.

[jonesthecurl]

As a blue-eyed person, I have no preference for blue-eyed mates.

I can recall, from a varied and ocacasionally vaguely remembered lovelife, only one blue-eyed partner.

I have no idea if blue-eyed partners are better in the sack.

Hey, Apey, wanna try a little experiment, in a spirit of pure scientific enquiry?

[strike wolf]

mutation and evolution are the same thing

creatures evolve by random mutations

Well, since you peeled back the lid on that can of worms, would you consider blue eyes an advancement or an evolutionary cul de sac?

Keep in mind, this is for the fate of humanity......

Neither. Eye color doesn't affect your sight, so it's more of an oddity than anything. It's kind of like hair color, there's no distinct advantage.

Might not affect your sight, but that doesn't have much to do with evolution. For instance, if, as has already been postulated, blue eyes are sexy, blue eyes are better in evolutionary terms. More baybeez! Also, if blue eyes can be more memorable, or can stand out of a crowd more, or anything else that would lead to more sex... well, more kids really... they are an evolutionary advantage. (If you buy the theory as Darwin puts it... which most people don't.)

I agree completely.