What Does Blue And Brown Eyes Make?
Pieter Maas
- 0
- 74
Genetics and Eye Color – Eye color is determined by multiple variations of genes that are in charge of the production and distribution of melanin, pheomelanin, and eumelanin. The main genes influencing eye color are called OCA2 and HERC2. Both are located on human chromosome 15.
Each gene has two different versions (alleles). You inherit one from the mother and one from the father. If the two alleles of a specific gene are different ( heterozygous ), the trait that is dominant is expressed (shown). The trait that is hidden is called recessive. If a trait is recessive, like blue eyes, it usually only appears when the alleles are the same ( homozygous ).
Brown eye color is a dominant trait and blue eye color is a recessive trait. Green eye color is a mix of both. Green is recessive to brown but dominant to blue.
Can blue and brown eyes make green?
Can blue and brown-eyed parents make green? – If the brown-eyed mother carried the green allele (bG), she could pass the green allele on 50% of the time, so when married up with the father’s blue allele, they could have a green-eyed child. |
Do blue and brown eyes make Hazel?
What Causes Hazel Eyes? – View in gallery For many of us, our first foray into human genetics is a simplified take on dominant and recessive genes, oftentimes about hair or eye color. We learn that brown eye color is dominant, while blue eyes are recessive. By this logic, two blue-eyed parents couldn’t have a child with light brown eyes, much less a child with hazel or even the more mysterious grey eyes.
Eye color inheritance isn’t determined by one or two traits, but by at least 16 different genes, This means that if you have blue or brown eyes and the right genes, you might end up with a bouncing hazel baby. There’s actually no hazel, green, or blue pigment present in the iris (the colored part of the eye.) Eye color is dependent on the amount of melanin present, the same pigment that determines skin color. Hazel eyes appear as they do because they have more melanin in them than green or blue eyes but less melanin than brown eyes. However People with hazel eyes aren’t necessarily born this way! White, non-Hispanic babies with blue eyes can develop more melanin as they age, leading to hazel or, in other circumstances, green and brown eyes. The way hazel appears to change color isn’t a parlor trick. It’s actually due to Rayleigh scattering, the same optical phenomenon responsible for the blue sky. Combined with the lower concentration of melanin, the way light scatters within the iris reveals not just a single natural eye color, but varying wavelengths of green, blue and brown, This has led to the hazel eye color being referred to as the “eye color chameleon” by scientists, The chameleon effect is emphasized by the way pupils contract. Pupil size affects how light reflects in the eye and how we perceive this light, giving credence to the myth that hazel eyes change with someone’s emotions. Much like when we wear something to “bring out our eyes,” hazels can appear to reflect the colors around them—a great reminder for anyone interested in the best hair color for hazel eyes! Finally, hazel, blue, grey, and green eyes are all a result of genetic mutation, Brown eyes, the most common eye color, are believed to have been the standard up until some several thousand years ago.
Can a brown-eyed parent and a blue-eyed parent have a blue-eyed child?
Brown eye colour is dominant over blue eye colour. Therefore, for the brown-eyed parents having blue-eyed child, the possibility is that both have heterozygous genotype i.e. Bb. Therefore, from the square below, it is clear that there is a 25% possibility of blue-eyed (bb) child.
What is the rarest mixed eye color?
Green has traditionally been called the rarest eye color. But new classifications say another color may be even less common—gray. Eye color is an inherited trait with multiple genes affecting the shade. Genes related to the production of pigments—melanin, eumelanin, and pheomelanin—dictate the color of your skin, hair, and eyes. Celeste Muñoz / EyeEm
Are blue eyes dominant over brown?
How does it work? – Babies inherit equal eye color genetics from both parents — 50% from each. From here, genes mutate to produce what are called alleles. Alleles are alternative forms of a gene that, in this case, are responsible for giving your baby a certain eye color.
- The allele genes come in the form of brown, blue, or green, with brown being dominant, followed by green, and blue being the least dominant or what is called recessive.
- Given this information, you can determine what eye colors are dominant in the parents.
- There are many combinations involving dominant and recessive alleles, but you can build a chart to help you understand the possible combinations your child could have.
For example, if both parents have the dominant brown allele, it is likely your child will have brown eyes and the same if one parent has a dominant brown allele and the other a recessive blue allele. Brown and green alleles will always out-rule blue alleles, with brown being the most dominant.
How rare is hazel eyes?
Hazel Eyes – Hazel eyes are sometimes mistaken for green or brown eyes. They are not as rare as green eyes, but are rarer than blue eyes. Only about 5 percent of the population worldwide has the hazel eye genetic mutation. After brown eyes, they have the most melanin.
The combination of having less melanin (as with green eyes) and a lot of melanin (like brown eyes) make this eye color unique. The color combinations in shades of green, brown, and gold are endless with hazel eyes, depending on the concentration of melanin. The light scatters as it does with blue and green eyes.
As with blue and green eyes, hazel eyes may appear to shift colors depending on the light. The eye color doesn’t actually shift, perception does. It is unknown if hazel eyes developed from brown eyes or green.
What color eyes do brown and blue-eyed parents make?
Making Eye Color Predictions with Basic Genetics – If you want to try and predict your baby’s eye color, pull out your high school biology textbook to help narrow down just how likely it is that your baby will have blue eyes. If you didn’t keep it, don’t worry, I’ll give you a quick review.
As FamilyEducation’s Genetics Expert, I have developed my knowledge on these topics through a combination of college classes, teaching, and self-study. We all inherit two copies of each gene (allele), eye color included. One copy comes from our mother, and one from our father. Both alleles are stored in our chromosomes (our genetic code) and can be passed on to our children, but only one presents in how we look.
Dominant genes present while recessive genes “hide out” in the DNA code for a chance to pass on to future generations. Generally, darker colors are the dominant traits, while lighter colors are recessive, so a person with one brown-eyed gene and one blue-eyed gene will have brown eyes.
Blue eyes + blue eyes = 100% chance of blue eyes Brown eyes + blue eyes = 50% chance of blue eyes, but only if the brown-eyed parent carries a blue-eyed gene. If not, the chance is 0% Brown eyes + brown eyes = 25%, but only if both parents carry the blue-eyed gene. If not, the chance is 0%
It is important to remember that this theory is a simplified version of what really happens at the genetic level. Human eye coloring is actually controlled by a complex genetic process and there are many different eye colors other than just blue eyes and brown eyes.
What color eyes will a baby have if both parents have blue?
Blue eyes – A clue to paternity Before you request a paternity test, spend a few minutes looking at your child’s eye color. It may just give you the answer you’re looking for. According to Bruno Laeng and colleagues, from the University of Tromso, Norway, the human eye color reflects a simple, predictable and reliable genetic pattern of inheritance.
- Their studies1, published this week in the Springer journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, show that blue-eyed men find blue-eyed women more attractive than brown-eyed women.
- According to the researchers, it is because there could be an unconscious male adaptation for the detection of paternity, based on eye color.
The laws of genetics state that eye color is inherited as follows:
If both parents have blue eyes, the children will have blue eyes. If both parents have brown eyes, a quarter of the children will have blue eyes, and three quarters will have brown eyes. The brown eye form of the eye color gene (or allele) is dominant, whereas the blue eye allele is recessive.
It then follows that if a child born to two blue-eyed parents does not have blue eyes, then the blue-eyed father is not the biological father. It is therefore reasonable to expect that a man would be more attracted towards a woman displaying a trait that increases his paternal confidence, and the likelihood that he could uncover his partner’s sexual infidelity.
Eighty-eight male and female students were asked to rate facial attractiveness of models on a computer. The pictures were close-ups of young adult faces, unfamiliar to the participants. The eye color of each model was manipulated, so that for each model’s face two versions were shown, one with the natural eye color (blue/brown) and another with the other color (brown/blue).
The participants’ own eye color was noted. Both blue-eyed and brown-eyed women showed no difference in their preferences for male models of either eye color. Similarly, brown-eyed men showed no preference for either blue-eyed or brown-eyed female models.
- However, blue-eyed men rated blue-eyed female models as more attractive than brown-eyed models.
- In a second study, a group of 443 young adults of both sexes and different eye colors were asked to report the eye color of their romantic partners.
- Blue-eyed men were the group with the largest proportion of partners of the same eye color.
According to Bruno Laeng and colleagues, “It is remarkable that blue-eyed men showed such a clear preference for women with the same eye color, given that the present experiment did not request participants to choose prospective sexual mates, but only to provide their aesthetic or attractiveness responsesbased on face close-up photographs.” Blue-eyed men may have unconsciously learned to value a physical trait that can facilitate recognition of own kin.1.
Laeng B et al (2006). Why do blue-eyed men prefer women with the same eye color? (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, DOI 10.1007/s00265-006-0266-1) Article is available to journalists as a pdf. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
: Blue eyes – A clue to paternity
How does a child get blue eyes?
Eye color changes over time – Iris color, just like hair and skin color, depends on a protein called melanin. We have specialized cells in our bodies called melanocytes whose job it is to go around secreting melanin. Over time, if melanocytes only secrete a little melanin, your baby will have blue eyes.
- If they secrete a bit more, his eyes will look green or hazel,
- When melanocytes get really busy, eyes look brown (the most common eye color), and in some cases they may appear very dark indeed.
- Because it takes about a year for melanocytes to finish their work it can be a dicey business calling eye color before the baby’s first birthday.
The color change does slow down some after the first 6 months of life, but there can be plenty of change left at that point. Eye color is a genetic property, but it’s not quite as cut-and-dried as you might have learned in biology class.
Two blue-eyed parents are very likely to have a blue-eyed child, but it won’t happen every single time. Two brown-eyed parents are likely (but not guaranteed) to have a child with brown eyes. If you notice one of the grandparents has blue eyes, the chances of having a blue-eyed baby go up a bit. If one parent has brown eyes and the other has blue eyes, odds are about even on eye color. If your child has one brown eye and one blue eye, bring it to your doctor’s attention; he probably has a rare genetic condition called Waardenburg syndrome.
What makes hazel eyes?
Hazel eyes are definitely one of the trickier eye colors to pin down. What color is hazel exactly? Hazel eyes are usually a combination of brown, green, and gold, although they can appear to look like any of those colors at a distance. Hazel often means that the inside of an individual’s iris is a different color than the outer rim, giving their eyes a bright, vibrant, multicolored appearance.
Can a green eyed and a brown eyed person have a blue eyed child?
How is it possible that I have blue eyes when my father has brown and my mother green? Editor’s note (1/25/2021): This article describes a two-gene model for eye color. While this was a standard model for years, it is over simplified. Eye color is a complex trait influenced by at least a dozen different genes.
- That makes it harder to predict, with much more complicated genotypes, than described here.
- You’re right.
- If there was just one eye color gene, then your situation would be pretty uncommon.
- And yet your situation can and does happen. A lot.
- A brown eyed dad and a green eyed mom can have a blue eyed child because there are at least two eye color genes.
Because of this, it is possible for both green and brown eyed parents to be carriers for blue eyes. And as carriers, they each can pass down blue eye genes to their children. Let’s go into a bit more detail about how all of this works. We’ll also do Punnett squares for the two most likely possibilities in your case to figure out the chances of your parents having a blue eyed child.
BB bb | Brown |
BB Gb | Brown |
BB GG | Brown |
Bb bb | Brown |
Bb Gb | Brown |
Bb GG | Brown |
bb GG | Green |
bb Gb | Green |
bb bb | Blue |
The first thing to notice from this table is that whenever there is a B, there are brown eyes. So B is dominant over both G and b. Also, whenever there is a G (but no B), there are green eyes. So G is dominant over b. A couple of things might seem weird here.
First, there are two separate genes and yet B from one gene is dominant over G from another gene. Eye color happens because of the amount of the pigment melanin found in the eye. Not anywhere in the eye but in a very special place, the stroma of the iris. Lots of melanin here gives brown eyes and less melanin gives green.
Little or no melanin in the stroma of the iris gives blue eyes. So this is why brown is dominant over green. The B version of OCA2 tells the eye to make lots of melanin. The G version of the gey gene tells the eye to make some. What happens if both are present? Lots of melanin gets made which means brown eyes.
The fact that both recessive forms are blue makes sense from this as well. The recessive forms of these two genes are recessive because they don’t work. A broken OCA2 gene is the same as a broken gey gene-no melanin gets made in the stroma. No melanin in the stroma means blue eyes. OK, so now we see why brown is dominant over green.
And why blue is recessive to both. But we still haven’t explained your situation. We can figure this out from noting something else in the table-all the eye colors have two versions of each gene. There are two copies of OCA2 and two copies of gey in each case.
- This is because we have two copies of most of our genes, one from mom and one from dad.
- It is this fact that allows for a brown eyed dad and a green eyed mom to have a blue eyed child.
- Let’s look at OCA2 as an example.
- If someone has two B versions, then obviously they have brown eyes.
- And if they have two b versions, then they don’t have brown eyes (they’ll have either green or blue).
But what if they have one B and one b? Then they have brown eyes. But half of the time they will pass the blue version to their kids. And if the other parent passes the b version of OCA2 as well, then the child will not have brown eyes. This all works for the gey gene too.
So in your case, the easiest way to explain your blue eyes is if both your mom and dad are carriers for blue eyes. Your mom is most likely bb Gb and your dad is either Bb Gb or Bb bb (we can’t tell the difference). These are written as the first pair of letters from OCA2 (the brown-blue gene) and the second pair from gey (the green-blue gene).
So each parent gave a b from OCA2 and a b from gey. The end result is that you are bb bb which is blue eyes. Let’s figure out how likely it was for you to end up with blue eyes. To do this, we’ll set up two Punnett squares, one for each of your dad’s possibilities.
The way a Punnett square works is you make a table. We’ll do an easy one first with just OCA2 (the brown or blue eye gene). The first step is to put your dad’s two possible gene versions on the top like this: Since we are saying your dad is a brown-eyed carrier of blue eyes, he has a B (brown) and a b (blue) version of OCA2.
The next step is to put your mom’s gene versions on the side of the table like this: As you can see, in this example, I put your dad’s brown eyes on top (Bb) and your mom’s blue eyes (bb) on the side. Remember, your dad and mom only contribute one version of OCA2 each.
Your dad can give either a B or a b, not both. The Punnett square gives you all four possibilities of your dad and mom’s combinations. The next step is to fill in each square with the letters from the top or side to figure out what is possible. For example, in the first square, since there is a B from your dad and a b from your mom, a Bb goes in like this: This represents a brown eyed carrier of blue eyes.
You then fill in the rest of the square like this: From this, you can figure out that your parents had a 50-50 shot of having brown-eyed kids (Bb). Note that all the brown eyed kids will be carriers for the blue eyed version of the gene, b. Now, to add the green gene, it gets more complicated.
- Each of the two genes is independent of each other so you need to figure out all of the possibilities your parents could have.
- Your mom will be bb Gb.
- Your dad could be either Bb Gb or Bb bb.
- If your dad is Bb Gb, then the square will look like this: You do the same thing as before and combine the boxes.
The first box would be Bb GG, a brown-eyed carrier of green eyes. If we fill in all of the possibilities, we get:
BG | Bb | bG | bb | |
bG | Bb GG | Bb Gb | bb GG | bb Gb |
bb | Bb Gb | Bb bb | bb Gb | bb bb |
bG | Bb GG | Bb Gb | bb GG | bb Gb |
bb | Bb Gb | Bb bb | bb Gb | bb bb |
From this, we can figure that if your dad was a carrier for green eyes, then your parents had a 2 in 16 (or 1 in 8) chance of having a blue eyed child. If instead your dad is Bb bb, then the Punnett square would look like this:
Bb | Bb | bb | bb | |
bG | Bb Gb | Bb Gb | bb Gb | bb Gb |
bb | Bb Gb | Bb bb | bb bb | bb bb |
bG | Bb Gb | Bb Gb | bb Gb | bb Gb |
bb | Bb Gb | Bb bb | bb bb | bb bb |
In this case, each child of your parents has a 4 in 16 (or 1 in 4) chance for blue eyes. So there you have it. Sorry it was so long but now you know how it is possible for a brown eyed dad and a green eyed mom to have a blue eyed child. And the odds of it happening. : How is it possible that I have blue eyes when my father has brown and my mother green?
What color eyes can two blue eyed parents have?
Blue eyes – A clue to paternity Before you request a paternity test, spend a few minutes looking at your child’s eye color. It may just give you the answer you’re looking for. According to Bruno Laeng and colleagues, from the University of Tromso, Norway, the human eye color reflects a simple, predictable and reliable genetic pattern of inheritance.
- Their studies1, published this week in the Springer journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, show that blue-eyed men find blue-eyed women more attractive than brown-eyed women.
- According to the researchers, it is because there could be an unconscious male adaptation for the detection of paternity, based on eye color.
The laws of genetics state that eye color is inherited as follows:
If both parents have blue eyes, the children will have blue eyes. If both parents have brown eyes, a quarter of the children will have blue eyes, and three quarters will have brown eyes. The brown eye form of the eye color gene (or allele) is dominant, whereas the blue eye allele is recessive.
It then follows that if a child born to two blue-eyed parents does not have blue eyes, then the blue-eyed father is not the biological father. It is therefore reasonable to expect that a man would be more attracted towards a woman displaying a trait that increases his paternal confidence, and the likelihood that he could uncover his partner’s sexual infidelity.
- Eighty-eight male and female students were asked to rate facial attractiveness of models on a computer.
- The pictures were close-ups of young adult faces, unfamiliar to the participants.
- The eye color of each model was manipulated, so that for each model’s face two versions were shown, one with the natural eye color (blue/brown) and another with the other color (brown/blue).
The participants’ own eye color was noted. Both blue-eyed and brown-eyed women showed no difference in their preferences for male models of either eye color. Similarly, brown-eyed men showed no preference for either blue-eyed or brown-eyed female models.
- However, blue-eyed men rated blue-eyed female models as more attractive than brown-eyed models.
- In a second study, a group of 443 young adults of both sexes and different eye colors were asked to report the eye color of their romantic partners.
- Blue-eyed men were the group with the largest proportion of partners of the same eye color.
According to Bruno Laeng and colleagues, “It is remarkable that blue-eyed men showed such a clear preference for women with the same eye color, given that the present experiment did not request participants to choose prospective sexual mates, but only to provide their aesthetic or attractiveness responsesbased on face close-up photographs.” Blue-eyed men may have unconsciously learned to value a physical trait that can facilitate recognition of own kin.1.
- Laeng B et al (2006).
- Why do blue-eyed men prefer women with the same eye color? (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, DOI 10.1007/s00265-006-0266-1) Article is available to journalists as a pdf.
- Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
: Blue eyes – A clue to paternity
Can two blue eyes make green eyes?
Can two blue-eyed parents have a green or brown-eyed child? These are excellent questions. People are often very confused by eye color genetics because reality seems to fly in the face of the simple genetics we are taught in school. First, the answer is yes to both questions: two blue-eyed parents can produce green or brown-eyed children.
- Eye color is not the simple decision between the brown (or green) and blue versions of a single gene.
- There are many genes involved and eye color ranges from brown to hazel to green to blue to Eye color comes from a combination of two black and yellow pigments called melanin in the iris of your eye.
- If you have no melanin in the front part of your iris, you have blue eyes.
An increasing proportion of the yellow melanin, in combination with the black melanin, results in shades of colors between brown and blue, including green and hazel. What we are taught in high school biology is generally true: brown eye genes are dominant over green eye genes which are both dominant over blue eye genes.