to really not understand the genetics involved in eye color?

[CheerfulYank]

It's all very confusing. I remember something about punnett squares, and two blue eyed people not "being able" to have a brown-eyed child, but now I think that's a myth, isn't it? Or something?

My eyes are a very pale blue, DH's are brownish hazel. DS's are blue. I was just on a website "predicting" your future children's eye colors and it said they would be brown as DH's are brown, but that's obviously not the case.

Can someone who did not spend high school biology class flirting with their lab partner explain this to me? In small words?

i have stripy eyes too...brown in the middle followed by grey then light blue then dark blue...my younger son has inherited this exactly from me.

ooo i have a green layer too lol!

Salmotrutta - do you know if your Aunt had any hearing difficulties as well? My optician once explained to me that people with different coloured eyes often have hearing problems too.

This has puzzled me for years too. My mum and dad both have blue eyes. I have green, my sister blue. How can that be?

Dh has blue eyes yet my DD has green like me. How does that work?

I also know someone with different coloured eyes. one is very blue and the other very brown. no hearing difficulties.

I'm not sure if chimerism is hereditary or no LaWeasel - but I do remeber reading about a truly odd case where a mother was accused of not being the true mother of her own children - and it was all due to chimerism.
It all came to light becuase of tissue-typing (I think) as a donor was needed for a kidney(??) transplant so this very unusual chimerism caused the problem because her blood cells were displaying a diffrent tissue type.
It was only after a long investigation that she had other tissues typed etc. to prove she was the mother that it all got sorted
I must try and find that article/story ..
I think she almost had her kids taken from her (USA I think)

aldiwhore,...every person has 2 alleles for eye colour (they have 2 alleles for everything from blood type to shoe size) basically its one thats inherited from the mother and one from the father...only the dominant one is expressed in a persons phenotype...meaning that is the colour that they inherit visually...but they still carry the other allele in their genetic code...and when sex cells split some sex cells get the part of the genetic code with the recessive allele and some get the dominant allele...the sperm with the dominant allele for brown eye colour does not have any more chance of fertilising the egg that the one with the recessive allele for blue eye colour...that is just pure luck and chance...therefore if the sperm with the allele for blue eyes reaches the egg fiirst and the egg also has an allele for blue eyes then a blue eyes child can be born...using this thoery 2 brown eyed parents can produce a blue eyed baby.

Takethisone - I don't know if she had hearing problems but I doubt it as it was never mentioned when she was remembered in stories etc.

The optician was actually delighted when I confessed to being partially deaf. He said it was all to do with something called Waardenburg Syndrome.

But I've never met anyone else with different coloured eyes.

Ok I found it - I was wrong about them wanting to take her children away (grown up sons) but a fascinating story!!

chimerism story

Sorry it's not the original article by the way!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Fairchild

Story about the American mother almost prosecuted for fraud as she couldn't be the mother.

I found this If you scroll down to the table it gives an idea. It suggests if both parents have blue (as opposed to light blue) eyes then they could have a child with lkilght blue, blue or green eyes.

In my case I have brown eyes and DH has hazel eyes. So looks like DD's eyes will be anything from blue/green though to dark brown, guess we'll have to wait and see.

The above is before taking into account rogue genes.

minus... you could have a child with any colour of eyes depending on what your recessive allele is in your genetic code and what your partners is...you could never know this or work it outwithout some serious genetic testing of your DNA. you could have a child with pale blue eyes.

it is only pairs of parents both with blue eyes that cannot have brown eyed babies.

that lydia story is incredible!

Ah Penguin - I've probably blended the two stories in my head!
Fascinating stuff - and it's true that recent research has highlighted the simplicity of teaching that Brown is dominant to Blue when that is absolutely not always the case.
HooberGooger said it all upstream.

violet76 - usually yes. But not always - rare exceptions.

My sister has different coloured eyes, one blue, one a dark hazel, almost brown. it is truly amazing how many people do not notice this. Including her husband who had to have it pointed out to him

Please can someone explain my two children's dark greeny-grey eyes. They have identical eyes.

I have dark brown eyes, DH has bright blue eyes!

I have sectoral heterochromia

If anyone knows what that is without looking at Google you can have a shiny

I wouldn't even try to explain it. We have an odd mix in our family too!!

If anyone quizzes you (and then they would be rude otherwise why would they?) just say "Well, it's all down to polygenic inheritance. Fascinating field, don't you think?"

OK - various sections of your eyes have a mix of colours?

Do I get a shiny??

Sorry - first post was to Starlight and second to Scarlett!!

And I just made a guess Scarlett!

Shiny for you Salmotrutta

I have one blue eye, and one is half brown and half blue. To look at though it looks like I have one brown and one blue.