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Original poster

Eye colour...darker the more dominate gene?

50 replies

Cherryblossom200 · 19/08/2014 15:41

Hey everyone,

I have bluey/green eyes and the father of my baby has dark brown eyes, does that mean my baby is more likely to have brown eyes as this is the more dominate gene? Or is this a myth?

Cherry x

OP posts:
sleepyhead · 19/08/2014 15:43

Not at all scientific...

..but my dm has brown eyes and my ddad has blue eyes. I have blue eyes and my brother has brown eyes.

Dh has brown eyes and ds1 has brown eyes, ds2 has blue eyes.

DSIL has blue eyes and dn1 has brown eyes, dn2 has blue eyes.

So 50:50 here.

financialwizard · 19/08/2014 15:44

Not at all. My daughter is blond with blue eyes. I am dark haired and hazel eyed. Husband is dark haired and blue eyed. My family are Sicilian so you can imagine our colouring.

Original poster
Cherryblossom200 · 19/08/2014 15:45

So looks like it could be pot luck then! Thanks for your reply! x

OP posts:
PenguinsIsSleepDeprived · 19/08/2014 16:14

I think brown can be dominant, but there are lots of different genes involved and it isn't as simple as one brown eyed parent meaning brown eyed children.

MajorMassSpecsMrs · 19/08/2014 16:18

I'm very dark haired with dark eyes, DH is dark blond with green/grey eyes DS is blond with blue eyes. It's a wait and see job

PlumpPartridge · 19/08/2014 16:22

Brown generally trumps blue. B = brown, b = blue.

My dad is BB, my mum was bb. I am Bb. DH is bb.

DH and I can have children who are BB (brown), Bb (brown) or blue-eyed (bb).

We have one blue-eyed (bb) and one brown-eyed (Bb) DS. I love a bit of variety Grin

There are variations of this of course and I don't think there are just two genes, but the above is a good rule of thumb.

If your partner's mum/dad has blue eyes then you have a 50:50 chance of having a blue-eyed baby. Even if they have brown eyes, you could still have a blue-eyed baby as there could be a 'hidden' b gene being passed down the generations (i.e. you wouldn't see it as everyone also has a B).

FoodieMum3 · 19/08/2014 16:22

That's funny, I was looking at pictures of Kerry katona and her dp and baby earlier Blush and I noticed that they both have very dark eyes and the baby has piercing blue eyes. I presume it comes from a grandparent?

Original poster
Cherryblossom200 · 19/08/2014 16:26

Plump Partridge that's a really good ways of explaining things.

The baby's father has brown eyes and his mum and dad have brown eyes. I have blue eyes, my mum has blue eyes and my dad has brown eyes. So does this mean a good chance of my baby having brown eyes? I don't mind either way. Just interesting! :) x

OP posts:
PlumpPartridge · 19/08/2014 16:29

If both Kerry and her dp are Bb then yes, most definitely!

PlumpPartridge · 19/08/2014 16:34

If both his parents are brown-eyed (so either BB or Bb) and he is brown-eyed (BB or Bb) then yes, it seems quite likely.

If you're bb and he's BB: you will almost certainly have a brown-eyed baby (barring small mutations in the gene which give a cool mixed-up colour)

If you're bb and he's Bb: you have a 50% chance of a brown-eyed baby and a 50% chance of a blue-eyed baby (again, barring funny gene mix-ups).

DS2 actually has rather beautiful weird eyes, in that they are blue at the centre and brown around the edges. DS1 is a piercing blue.

squizita · 19/08/2014 16:48

I'm of mixed heritage and have blue eyes. So dark doesn't always 'trump' light - it depends what genes are in the background there.

PenguinsIsSleepDeprived · 19/08/2014 16:53

Yes, as I understand it, the 'two gene' e

PenguinsIsSleepDeprived · 19/08/2014 16:54

argh

explanation of eye colour you get at school is rather simplified and there are something like 15 different genes at play. The example doesn't explain green at all, for example. Or how sometimes two brown eyed parents unexpectedly get a blue eyed baby.

But it is a very good starting point.

comebackstrong · 19/08/2014 16:57

Me and husband are blue eyed. We have two blue eyed daughters and a green eyed son! God knows where he came from.

My husband pointed out the milkman had green eyes….haha

Sleepybunny · 19/08/2014 17:02

Two brown eyed, dark haired parents here and our daughter has blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.

hellymelly · 19/08/2014 17:06

I have funny coloured eyes, navy blue around the edge, green mainly in the centre, with yellowy bits. DH has sludge green/golden brown eyes. DDs have bluey green, like mine but lighter, and greeny brown like DH. My parents have bright grassy green (Dad ) and Yellowy brown (mum). Dh's parents have dark brown and blue, so we are all a mixture. I have a friend with amazing pastel aquamarine eyes, I have never seen anyone with that sort of colour. They look like a greeny blue paint has been mixed with white, they are incredible.

mssleepyhead · 19/08/2014 17:18

I can't work it out but my parents have blue and brown eyes, my sister has blue eyes and I have green eyes! Waiting with great anticipation to see what colour our DS will have...

PolytheneGirl · 19/08/2014 19:36

I have grey/green eyes and DH has brown eyes. Brown is supposed to be dominant over green but DS must have picked up the blue gene from MIL and the green gene from me won out! I'm thrilled he has my eyes, I always thought he'd turn out to be a brown eyed boy! Smile

Mrsjinglejangle · 19/08/2014 19:38

My oh has black hair and brown eyes
I have brown hair and dark blue eyes
Our beautiful dd has blonde hair and bright blue eyes :)

TobyZiegler · 19/08/2014 19:39

Not scuentifi

TobyZiegler · 19/08/2014 19:42

Bugger... Start again!

Not scientific at all but I have very green eyes (pure green not washy green or bluey green). DH has dark brown eyes. DS got his dark brown eyes.

Eye colour is a weird one. I thought I might be adopted as a child because my mum has brown eyes and my dad and brother have blue, so where did my green come from!

Spinaroo · 19/08/2014 19:45

I have brown, my husband has blue- of three children only one has brown eyes, one blue, one greenish.

babymouse · 19/08/2014 20:33

Both my parents have dark brown eyes, my sister and I both have light hazel eyes.

Cockadoodledooo · 19/08/2014 20:51

Dh has hazel eyes, mine are blue (though I have a narrow brown stripe across the radius of my left iris), both our dc are blue eyed. My ddad has brown eyes, as does dsis, dmum is blue like me.

Actually you just reminded me of something mum told us years ago. When she introduced dsis to her Nanna (so our great-Nanna), great-Nanna remarked on dsis's beautiful brown eyes. Mum and Dad both exclaimed "But they're blue!", turned out they weren't blue any more...

GerundTheBehemoth · 19/08/2014 21:29

It used to be thought that brown and blue eyes were a Mendelian trait (controlled by just one gene, which comes in two different versions or alleles). The brown allele (B) appeared to be dominant over blue (b). If this was true, brown-eyed people could be BB or Bb, but blue-eyed people would have to be bb. The idea seems plausible because it's common for two brown-eyed parents to have a blue-eyed child (no problem if they are both Bb - 25% chance of a bb child) but very rare the other way round. BUT if this really was a Mendelian trait, then it would be more than very rare for blue-eyed parents to have a brown-eyed child, it would be impossible, as neither parent would have any B alleles to contribute, only b alleles, so they could only have blue-eyed children.

But as others have said, and as we should have known all along as there's clearly a lot more variation than just 'brown' and 'blue', it's turned out that human eye colour genetics are a lot more complex. This explains some of it.

One human trait that is Mendelian (probably) is earwax type - wet or dry. But predicting your baby's earwax type somehow doesn't have the same magic...