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martin.farrington4 · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 3 Location: uk

Can two brown eyed parents make a blue eyed child??

blu3 · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Nottinghamshire

Yes they can make a blue eyed child! According to my biology degree husband!

If they are both carriers of the blue eyed gene which is recessive to the brown eyed gene then both parents will be brown eyed. On average a 1/4 of their children will be blue eyed. It is also possible for blue eyed parents to produce brown eyed children because there's another set of genes which are different from the blue/brown eyed genes which causes brown blotches in the iris. A few brown blotches makes the eyes look green, a lot makes them look brown, in all those cases the child is genetically blue eyed. I'm genetically blue eyed (green eyes), my husband has blue eyes and our eldest has brown eyes!

Teachers are warned not to tell parents that blue eyed parents can't produce brown eyed children!

martin.farrington4 · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 3 Location: uk

Thanks for your reply 'blu3'

I am still confused....!!!

My dads mum has blue eyes and my dads dad has brown. My mums dad has blue eyes and my mums mum has brown eyes. Both my parents have brown eyes and dark brown hair. I have blue eyes and blond hair.

I have been doing a little research into this and th efollowing calculator shows that my parents could not have a blue eyed child.

http://museum.thetech.org/ugenetics/eyeCalc/eyecalculator.html

The following is also an extract from another post on another site....

'It is possible for two brown-eyed parents to have a child with a different eye color than theirs. For two brown-eyed parents to have a blue-eyed child, for example, the mother and father would need to pass on a pair of blue alleles each to their offspring. If this child were to get one green allele in this mix instead, s/he would have green eyes; however, if a brown allele is present, regardless of what the other three alleles are, the child would have brown eyes. '

This would tend to indicate that my parents could not have a blue eyed child ..... as brown is dominant and blue is recessive to other colours. Clearly my parents and their parents possess the dominant brown colouring

So what is the answer?

Hope you are able to assist in simple terms!

Thanks

M

blu3 · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Nottinghamshire

Hi Martin,

I have no idea so I'm typing what my oh says in reply.

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4605 Location: Bath

You could email it to me blu and I'll pass it on.

martin.farrington4 · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 3 Location: uk

Hi

thanks for your response... The Sscruff also sent the diagram which was also helpful. Easier to understand than some of the technical stuff I have read!

Martin