Genetics for parents: 7 traits that are inherited

What determines hair color?

Our body is a system of interconnected organs. It exists autonomously, although nature has created such connections that are not visible to the eye, but tangible. They are detected at the genetic level, so a person’s appearance, character and even habits are formed long before birth. Our relatives, whose names we may not even know, took part in this process. Knowing how to understand these connections, you can scientifically predict what color a newborn’s hair will be.

Recessive and dominant genes

To do this, you need to know which parent has stronger genes (dominant) and which has weaker genes (recessive).

A situation may arise in which both mom and dad have recessive genes - then the shade of the baby’s hair will depend on the genes of more distant relatives.

Specific features of the external and internal structure of the body will help determine the recessiveness or dominance of genes. People with green or brown eyes, wavy hair, a positive Rh factor, as well as balding men are considered carriers of weak genes.

People with strong genetics have clear skin, straight hair, and their blood Rh factor is negative.

Superstitions

But it is not always possible, even based on these theoretical calculations, to guess the hair color of the unborn child. It seems curious when a baby is born with hair of a color that neither parent has. This is often associated with the appearance of red-haired babies.

The area of superstitions spread by the Orthodox Church includes the theory of telegony, which suggests that the genes of all the mother’s lovers participate in the formation of the child’s heredity. The reason for the appearance of this theory is due to the fact that orthodox religious people thus want to prove the immorality of premarital sexual acts.

How to guess a child's hair color

In order to guess the child's hair color, there is no need to undergo tests. To do this, it is enough to determine which of the parents has dominant genes and which has recessive genes.

Expecting parents, waiting for a miracle, want to know in advance not only the sex of the unborn child, but also other details. Many parents are interested in what the hair color of their future child will be. Theoretically, this is not difficult to figure out, based on the existing laws of genetics. In order to determine the color of a child's hair, you do not need to take any tests.

What affects the hair color of an unborn child?

It is clear that the hair color of the unborn child is influenced by the genes of both parents, but in one of the parents these genes are dominant (strong), while in the other they are recessive (weak). The factor of dominance or recessivity can be determined independently. People with dominant genes have brown or green eyes, pigmentation on the skin, and curly hair. People with recessive genes, as a rule, have a negative Rh factor, perfectly straight hair, lack of any pigmentation on the skin, and poor blood clotting. So, if the father has dominant genes, then the child will most likely inherit his hair color. It happens that both the father and mother have dominant or recessive genes, then the result will be unexpected. A child may inherit the hair color of a distant relative with strong dominant genes.

It should be noted that a child’s hair color may change more than once during the first five years of life. Very often, a baby is born with sparse dark hair. It happens that the genetic dominance of the parents does not play a role in the formation of the hair color of the future baby. Hair color depends on how much melanin pigment the baby has at the time of birth. Of course, the amount of melanin is influenced by genes, but the functioning of the baby’s endocrine system is also influenced. The hormonal background formed at the time of birth is also responsible for hair color.

Can hair color change?

As a rule, the baby’s first hairs (fluff) gradually fall out a few months after birth, and then hair of the color that matches the child’s formed genotype begins to grow. It also happens that even in adolescence a person’s hair color changes dramatically. This is affected by changes in hormonal levels, as well as puberty.

Based on the foregoing, it can be noted that the color of a child’s hair is influenced by both the genes of the parents and the formation of hormonal levels at the time of birth. Some parents know what hair color a child will most likely be born with if, for example, grandma, dad and uncle have black or red hair.

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Color and thickness

In fair-haired babies, hair is not thick in the first year of life. There is no need to worry: the formation of a child’s hair continues during the first five years. Until this time, insufficient density should not give cause for concern.

Moreover, you should not use the advice of traditional medicine - following them can only aggravate the situation and cause:

fragility;
dryness;
damaged roots;
loss of color.

Proper hair care involves a healthy diet, which includes foods high in zinc, magnesium, calcium, vitamins A, B, and C.

Hair density is not related to the frequency of haircuts. The only thing they contribute to is hair coarsening. Therefore, parents should put superstitions aside - nature will take care of the future.

Some parents, in the hope of avoiding hair loss in their child, shave his head. This is highly discouraged, because shaving can damage the scalp, and this process will not have any effect on the hair.

Color change

There is no need to be alarmed if the color and structure of newborns’ hair begins to change rapidly: these processes are observed in almost everyone. Hair can change color several times. These processes are caused by the restructuring of the body, which actively occurs during the first 5 years of the baby’s life: during this time, the child’s hormonal balance is adjusted, important components responsible for the external and internal structure of the body are redistributed.

Hair darkens

More often than not, children's hair darkens. Pediatricians find it difficult to give a definitive answer to the question of why this happens. Most people agree that after a child is born, the distribution of melanin pigment in his body changes.

In the womb, most babies have light hair because it contains a significant amount of pigment. Its content can remain at the same level after birth, which is why in the first months and sometimes years, naturally dark children remain blonde.

After birth, the baby's hair begins to change structure and color. One of the pigments responsible for light is eumelanin. The more it is in the hair, the darker it is. The content of this pigment, unlike melanin, gradually increases. You can notice this process in photographs of children, in which their hair becomes darker and darker as they grow older.

Baby's hair becomes lighter

Less commonly, there are cases when babies' hair turns lighter. The reason for this process lies in the decrease in eumelanin content in the hair.

Inheritance of hair color in humans

Ekaterinburg

Relevance of the topic. The gene for red hair pigmentation is poorly understood. There are only 2% of red-haired people in the world, there are too few of them [2]. Perhaps this is why there is practically no reference to the inheritance of the gene for red hair pigmentation in scientific works, and in some problem books and reference books there is conflicting information. My sister and I are representatives of red-haired Armenians, unlike our parents and most of my relatives who have dark hair.

We recommend reading: How long does it take to register an inheritance?

Fiery color

Most parental superstitions are associated with red-haired children. Since ancient times, this color has entailed a trail of mystical ideas. In the era of nanotechnology, scientists have tried to dispel these superstitions and, based on reliable facts, prove that red hair color is almost no different in characteristics from other types.

Its carrier is the MK1R gene, informally known as the “ginger gene.” In terms of the manifestation of strength, it is recessive. This means that a child will be born red-haired if there are two “ginger” genes in his gene structure. Therefore, it is not always the case that in a large family with red-haired parents, all the children will necessarily turn out to be red-haired.

The probability of acquiring this color in these cases is 1 in 4. The MK1R gene can lie dormant for several generations in a row and appear at a time when it was not expected, and ignorance of the laws of genetics will lead to the fact that the birth of a red-haired baby will cause not very good assumptions on the part of the father.

If the pigment melanin is responsible for light color, and eumelanin is responsible for dark color, then pheomelanin is responsible for red hair. Its presence increases the risk of melanoma. Even people with pale skin and blond hair are less likely to get it. But the distinctive character a priori attributed to redheads remains a stereotype, not confirmed by scientific research.

Maintaining natural hair color and caring for it

To ensure that the baby’s hair looks well-groomed and its color is natural, parents need to follow simple rules

Balanced diet rich in vitamins and microelements

The baby begins to eat already in the womb: the supply of the child with the necessary nutrients depends on the mother’s diet. If a mother has problems with her hair during pregnancy, they need to be resolved quickly so that they do not negatively affect the child.

No food component is as beneficial for a baby as mother's milk. It contains the necessary nutrients for the normal development of the child's body.

Starting from the second year, the child’s diet should be expanded with supplements rich in proteins, fats and carbohydrates. To restore hair and maintain its normal condition, vitamins A, B, E, C and D are needed.

Washing head

The baby's hair needs to be washed daily. It is recommended to use shampoos no more than twice a week, and it is better not to wash your baby’s hair with soap at all. If it is time to wash your child's hair with shampoo, the detergent should be rubbed into the palm of your hand or warmed with warm water. This is done so as not to frighten the baby with cold liquid.

During bathing procedures, parents need to carefully monitor whether there is any dirt left in the hair and whether the skin is sufficiently moisturized.

Intense hormonal changes in the baby’s body lead to poor skin condition, which is characterized by the appearance of a crust. It will easily come off on its own during bathing if you pre-lubricate it with moisturizing baby cream. After bathing procedures, the child’s hair should be slightly blotted with a soft towel and allowed to dry on its own.

Combing

The baby needs to comb his head every day, and this does not depend on the thickness of his hair. Thanks to combing, the child’s hair becomes smooth and acquires a natural color, and the scalp is massaged. To comb out all the dirt from your hair, you need to change the direction of combing: from right to left, from top to bottom, against growth and vice versa. To ensure uniform hair growth, partings should be made in different places.

You need to pay special attention to the comb: it should not be sharp or hard. Special brushes with natural bristles are produced for children. Also, do not forget that combs, like toothbrushes, are short-lived. Dirt, skin particles, and lost hair gradually accumulate on them, which contributes to the spread of infection.

Compliance with the above rules is the key to excellent condition of the child’s hair and its natural color. Violating the recommendations will lead to the baby’s hair becoming dirty, tangled and brittle.

You can calculate the hair color of your unborn child, but is it worth doing? Conduct genetic tests, determine the recessiveness or dominance of genes, find out what kind of hair great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers had in their youth... Nature or God themselves decreed that they brought future parents together, and not much is required of them: to love their child, despite then whether he is dark, light or red.

A baby who has just been born may shock his mother with the color of his hair. Sometimes it happens that parents have dark hair, but the baby may have light fluff on his head. In fact, the color of a child's hair at birth does not mean anything. As a rule, hair color changes gradually.

What color will the children's hair be?)

Dad’s hair is blond and red, Mom’s hair is dark brown, I don’t know what to call it.

Muscovite

There are relatives, but their hair color is the opposite. Mom is blonde with red hair, father is brown-haired. The son and daughter were born copper-red. Well, very beautiful, especially the girl (however, she has already become a mother too)

Martha

I’m a geneticist, tell me the hair colors of your husband’s and your parents’ parents, as well as the eye color, if you want) I’ll tell you according to the probabilities what options are possible in children)

Olga

Martha, can I? My husband and I both have brown eyes. The child turned out to be blue-eyed. My parents have green eyes, my husband’s eyes are brown, my mother’s are blue. If possible, tell me in percentage terms, how rare is it that our child has blue eyes?

Guest

don’t you want to wait until you’re born?? or if it’s not the color you like, will you leave it in the maternity hospital?))))

Mischievous cocky cat

My mother is a dark-eyed brunette, my father is dark brown and blue-eyed, and I am a blonde with dark brown eyes)). That’s it.

Sissy

My friends gave birth to a red-haired, blue-eyed daughter. Dad is red-haired with blue eyes, mom is brunette with brown. Although usually the dark overpowers.

Muscovite

My friends have a blue-eyed blond dad, a brunette mom with almost black eyes. The girl is blonde with blue eyes. Mom is mistaken for a nanny.

Mia

Muscovite

My friends have a blue-eyed blond dad, a brunette mom with almost black eyes. The girl is blonde with blue eyes. Mom is mistaken for a nanny.

me too. I had to dye my hair light brown.

Muscovite

Mia

me too. I had to dye my hair light brown.

I'll definitely tell you)))

Hedgehog

I wonder who we'll have? I have green eyes (gray-green, yellow at the pupil, bluer at the edges), light brown, and there are some completely natural blondes in my family. The husband is a blue-eyed brunette. What kind of children are you most likely to have?

Hedgehog

Mom has eyes like mine, green, dad’s eyes are grey. My husband’s parents...it seems like both of them are blue-eyed...Yes, my grandmother also has amber, yellowish eyes, and my grandfather has blue eyes. My parents have light brown hair (though my mom wears makeup), my mom has medium brown hair, and my dad is like me.

Hedgehog

My grandmother seemed to be blonde in her youth, my grandfather was fair-haired. This is on the maternal side, I don’t know on the paternal side.

Martha

Olga! You have a 75% chance of having a brown-eyed child, and a 25% chance of having a green-eyed or blue-eyed child in the same ratio. That is, out of 4 children: 1 will be brown-eyed (will not carry other genes) 1 will be brown-eyed (will carry the green eye gene) 1 will be brown-eyed (will carry the blue eye gene) 1 will be deep-eyed or green-eyed with the same probability. That is, the probability of blue-eyed is about 12.5%

Martha

Hedgehog! You have 50% of the birth of a child with your eyes and 50% with your husband's eyes. All your traits are recessive (no dominant ones. Brown eyes or dark hair, for example, dominant traits)), so the probabilities are equalized. You are also equally likely to have a baby with your hair or your husband's hair.

Yes, here you don’t even need to be a geneticist, but just remember Mendel’s 2 laws, which were taught in biology at school..

Asnia

Yes, we also solved a lot of problems about this at school :))) But there we also need to take into account relatives with strange signs) The percentage, of course, is small, what will come out, but there is :)))

Stefa

Martha, please tell me what color eyes the child will have, if I have brown eyes, my parents have gray eyes, my husband has blue eyes, his father has blue eyes, his mother has gray eyes. In general, our relatives have gray or blue eyes. :)

Christina

My husband has dark brown hair, I have red hair, there were no red hairs in my generation, what is the probability of having red-haired children?

Guest

Martha! please tell me! I am a brunette with green-brown eyes, my husband is a chameleon - he brightens in summer, turns red in winter, he has green eyes, his family has a red-haired uncle, and both parents are fair-haired)))) what kind of children we can get (hair color)

Irina

Can you advise me. What hair color will my child have, what is the likelihood that he will be red? I have brown hair, and so does my husband. My parents: my mother has brown hair, my father has black hair, my sister has dark brown hair. My husband has a mom and dad with brown hair. It worries me that both my dad’s brothers are red-haired and my father, that is, my grandfather, was also red-haired. I would like to know, with this set of genetics, what color will my child’s hair most likely be? Thanks in advance for your answer!

Julia

Martha

Can we do the same)))? I have brown eyes and brown hair, my husband has yellow-green eyes and brown hair, my mother has gray eyes and dark brown hair, my dad has brown hair and brown eyes, my husband’s mother has brown hair and gray-green eyes, My husband's dad has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Thank you in advance )

Olga

Marta, I understand you are inundated with calculations, but please do not refuse. I have blond hair and blue eyes, my husband has black hair and brown eyes, we have 2 children, both with brown eyes and brown hair, we are expecting 3. My parents: father is blond with blue eyes, mother is dark blond with gray blue eyes. My husband's parents are both black-haired and brown-eyed. What hair and eye color will the child have?

Nastya)))

MARTA SAY PLEASE ANSWER THE SAME STANDARD QUESTION...I HAVE BLUE EYES.BLIGHT HAIR.MY HUSBAND HAS GREEN EYES, LIGHT RED.HIS PARENTS: MOM'S EYES HAVE GREEN HAIR LIGHT BROWN HIS DAD HAS BLUE EYES, HAIR BLACK. MY PARENTS HAVE BLUE EYES. .DADDY HAS BLACK HAIR, MOM HAS DARK BROWN HAIR. WHAT COLOR OF HAIR AND EYES WILL OUR CHILD HAVE??? THANK YOU IN ADVANCE)

Svetlana

What happens before birth...

An interesting fact is that while still in the mother’s tummy, hair on the baby’s head grows and falls out into the amniotic fluid; such hairs are called lanugo. The structure of these first hairs is not the same as normal ones. They are much thinner and lack follicles. When a baby is born, the lanugo may remain on the baby's head or fall out completely. Parents should not pay particular attention to the quality of the fuzz on the baby’s head. In most cases, one cannot judge by the external signs of a child’s first hair what it will become in the future. Lanugo completely disappears from the baby’s head by 3-4 months, and in their place, stronger hairs grow.

Parents may be greatly surprised by the shade of their child's hair if it does not match any of the gene carriers. As mentioned above, it is still quite early to draw conclusions. As the baby grows, the child's hair color also changes. Their shade can either lighten or darken. By the way, the shade of hair that a child will have in the future is laid down in the womb, at the genetic level.

There are two types of hair pigmentation: eumelanin and pheomelanin.

. The first of them affects the result of dark shades of hair, and the other is responsible for light and red hair. How these two pigments will interact with each other in the future depends on the genes. The process of producing pigments occurs due to melanocytes, cells that are programmed even before the baby is born. This process cannot be interfered with or influenced in any way. The process of changing hair color can drag on until primary school age, and in some cases even before the child reaches puberty.

Scientists have concluded that the effects of pheomelanin are responsible for red hair shades.

It is worth noting that factors such as stress, insufficient nutrients can affect the functioning of melanocytes and, as a result, a malfunction will occur. Gray hair that appears too early will be an indicator of such a malfunction in the child’s body. However, this process has nothing to do with cell aging. Therefore, it is impossible to make any assumptions about how the child’s hair color will change. It is also possible that the hair color may not change at all during the child’s life, but will remain the same as at birth.

How to find out which ones will...

Some parents who are expecting their first child can’t wait to determine their child’s hair color. In principle, this is possible if you understand a little about the laws of genetics. You don't even need to undergo any procedures for this.

So, there are 5 factors to predict this, namely:

The hair color of the unborn child depends on the combination of the genes of the mother and father. It is worth noting that genes are either dominant or recessive, i.e. weakly expressed and strongly expressed. The strongest, dominant genes dominate over the weak, recessive genes, thus, at the moment of the birth of a new life, they are passed on to the future baby. So, if a father is a carrier of a strong hair gene, then his children will inherit this gene.

If both father and mother are carriers of dominant and recessive genes, then the outcome of their struggle cannot be predicted. And here the genes of previous generations can play an important role, influencing the result. In this case, it will be possible to make only approximate assumptions about the hair color of the unborn child.

You can predict the outcome of strong or weak genes yourself as follows. If you have brown or green eyes with a normal blood clotting rate or you have a tendency to sudden hair loss, this applies to men, then you have strong genes. Weak genes are characterized by the presence of straight hair, lack of skin pigmentation and negative Rh factor of the blood.

We must not forget that such a science as genetics does not provide 100% accurate calculations. With its help, you can determine only the most probable options; an exact calculation will not be possible. As mentioned above, the genes of previous generations influence and are passed on to the future baby. Thus, it would seem that the parents are dark-haired, but the child can. And then it turns out that my great-grandfather had red hair too. This can often happen when you are expecting your first child. So, the likelihood of a child's hair color depends on everyone, including distant relatives.

It is worth remembering that changes in hair color can occur over the course of a child’s 5 years. His hair color may change several times, or it may remain the same. As a rule, hair color can change in the first two years of a child's life, and completes its formation by 5 years.

IMPORTANT! With the onset of puberty in a teenager's body, testosterone levels change, which in turn can affect changes in hair color.

How is hair color inherited?

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Genetics of individual traits in humans

Among the issues that human genetics studies, the patterns of inheritance of individual traits are of considerable interest. To date, the heredity of most normal human characteristics has been established.

All of them are controlled by a series of allelic and non-allelic genes located on different parts of the chromosomes.

The action of these genes is usually associated with the production of certain polypeptide chains, from which structural proteins or enzymes are then composed.

For example, hair color is controlled by genes at four loci, each of which has two alleles: dominant and recessive (see.

table). By combining the alleles of these four loci, nine phenotypic states are possible, ranging from black to completely white hair (Fig.

70). In this case, there is a transition from a very light blond to a dark brown brunette.

Facts about people with red hair

Under no circumstances can such a conclusion be made because there are no facts to support it.

Red-haired witches are said to come from German folk tales.

In the past, it was believed that red hair and freckles indicated the skills of witches. Thousands of women were burned at the stake for their appearance

. Another fact about people with a red color is that they are less sensitive to anesthesia, unlike others.

Each adult has about 120,000 hairs on their head—this number is lower for redheads, however. Women with red hair are lucky because their hair does not turn grey.

First they become sandy, and then white. In the past, the Egyptians believed that women with fiery hair brought suffering and burned them alive. Mummified skeletons of people with red hair were found in the Taklamakan Desert in China.

Red-haired children can be born to any parents

Previously, it was believed that a child inherits the hair color of his mother or father.

It got to the point that if a red-haired baby was born into a family of brunettes or blondes, the woman was suspected of being unfaithful to her spouse. However, recent studies of human DNA have shown that the gene for red hair (MC1R) is found in many non-red parents.

A special DNA test will help determine the likelihood of a newborn having a head of red hair.

A saliva test will detect the MC1R gene in future parents in a matter of hours.

The concentration of people with the presence of the gene is directly dependent on the place of residence.

The further north the country is, the more common are parents who carry the red hair gene.

However, there are not many red-haired citizens living on the planet.

Scientists estimate that even if both parents have the MC1R gene, only one in four newborns will inherit bright, sunny hair color.

This gene is characterized by dominant traits and can remain in DNA for many generations. It is impossible to predict in which of them the gene for red hair will appear.

Previous scientific studies have confirmed that people with red hair are more likely to have health problems. Thus, they are more often susceptible to such serious diseases as skin cancer, Parkinson's disease and even Tourette's syndrome.

Can you have a red-haired baby?

Therefore, you should not look for other reasons other than genetic characteristics.

Contrary to existing stereotypes that redheads are more temperamental and passionate, there is no scientific evidence to support this theory.

But many people talk about the fact that such people have some health problems. A study in the journal Nature confirmed that the pigment pheomelanin, which is responsible for red hair, may also make people with red hair more susceptible to melanoma than fair-skinned blondes.

As a result of numerous experiments, it has indeed been confirmed that those with red hair have an increased pain sensitivity threshold.

Experts say that such people require additional anesthesia during operations. However, people with red hair also have a number of advantages.

Wind in my head

Let's take a simple scheme of inheritance of hair color: gene A is responsible for the synthesis of eumelanin and dark hair color, i.e.

People (elves) with the AA and Aa genotypes have dark hair, and aa have light hair. Gene B is responsible for the synthesis of pheomelanin, and the production of this pigment is determined by the negative allele

. BB and BB have blond hair, BB has red hair.

Appears only if gene A is recessive. Thus, the following combinations are obtained:

So, if Feanor has the genotype AaBv, and Nerdanel has the aavv, they will easily have fair-haired Celegorm (aaBv), and red-haired twins with Maedhros (aabb), and dark-haired Maglor, Curufin and Caranthir (AaBv or Aavv).

One can also assume incomplete dominance in gene B.

Then silver hair, for example, in Miriel, is the aaBB genotype, i.e. pheomelanin, which is responsible for yellow and red color, is not produced at all.

Inheritance of hair color in humans

Even ancient literature confirms this. But in the mid-19th century, Gregor Mendel discovered the basic laws of heredity

And in the mid-twentieth century, scientists began to study the chemical processes that control heredity.

And here is the result - now every schoolchild knows about DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid, in the molecule of which the “book of genes” is written

.
DNA is the code that records all our physical qualities
.

Polygenic traits

In humans, examples of this type known to us include such characteristics as height, mental abilities, physique, as well as hair color and skin color.

The interaction of several non-allelic genes with the same effect is called polymerization, or unambiguous gene action.

An example of polymerization is the inheritance of skin color in humans. This trait is determined by four genes responsible for the production of the melanin pigment.

Mom's or dad's baby, or Try to imagine your baby

If the first half merges with the egg of the expectant mother, there will be a girl, if the second (Y) there will be a boy. Nature provides that slightly more boys are born in the world than girls.

Scientists suggest that in this way the balance of women and men is achieved

The fact is that the male body is less resistant to diseases; any unfavorable factors immediately affect their body even in the womb

What does hair color depend on: basic concepts

Natural hair color is created by the pigments eumelanin and pheomelanin.

Eumelanin is black-brown, and pheomelanin is yellow-red. The final color of your hair depends on the quantitative combination of these pigments inside the hair.

Conventionally, you can create the following color formulas:

if the body produces more eumelanin than pheomelanin, then the shade of the mop will be dark; in the opposite situation (less eumelanin, more pheomelanin) you will get hair in beautiful reddish shades; The lack of both pigments “gives” light colors.

The color of the curls depends on heredity

Basic hair colors

It is customary to distinguish five main shades:

Note! In total, there are fifty-four different shades of hair. Color is determined by a large number of nuances.

How do I know what hair color I have?

Quite a common question.

Dark-haired ladies with hair ranging from classic black to rich chestnut shade are called brunettes and are traditionally considered fatal beauties and mistresses of men.

Naturally brown-haired - the shade of hair in this case can vary from rich chestnut to dark brown color

If pheomelanin predominates in the structure, then the hair gets all shades of red tone.

Articles: Brunette parents have a red-haired child

In particular, studies have shown that red hair color (usually combined with light skin that is poorly susceptible to sun tanning) is often found in people who have certain structural features of the MC1R gene (“recessive” mutations R160W, D294H, R142H, 86insA and etc.) The above mutations “provide” red coloration to human hair only in a homozygous state - i.e. In order to be a “redhead,” a person must inherit such mutations from both his mother and father.

Eye color in newborns

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Red hair color

Red hair color is often found among the Kabyle people of Algeria, where the number of red-headed people is approximately 4% of the population. Queen of Morocco, Lalla Salma, wife of King Mohammed VI, has red hair. Abd ar-Rahman I also had red hair.

In Asia, darker or mixed shades of red can be occasionally found in northern India, the northern Middle East (in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine).

The pigment pheomelanin gives red hair its distinctive color.

Laws of genetics: how to determine the hair color of an unborn child before birth.

How to care for baby's hair.

The appearance of bald patches and bald areas on the back of the head also often worries parents.

In most cases, the reason is that the baby rubs these areas of the head on the bed, mechanical friction and leads to hair loss.

Baldness in the back of the head is not a sign of rickets unless there are other symptoms (excessive sweating, restlessness, pallor and marbling of the skin, increased temperature, decreased muscle tone).

Many parents worry when the baby is already 1 year old, and the hair on the head is still very sparse and short. Most often this applies to fair-haired babies. Hair thickness is also genetically determined; parents can be advised to find their 1-year-old children's photographs and look at their hairstyle.

If it is identical, then there is nothing to worry about. In some children, hair begins to actively grow only by the age of 2, and this does not mean that the child will not have beautiful hair in the future.

What color can a child's hair be?

With its help, you can determine only the most probable options; an exact calculation will not be possible.

As mentioned above, the genes of previous generations influence and are passed on to the future baby. Thus, it would seem that the parents are dark-haired, and the child may be born red-haired.

And then it turns out that my great-grandfather had red hair too. This can often happen when you are expecting your first child.

So, the likelihood of a child's hair color depends on everyone, including distant relatives.

It is worth remembering that changes in hair color can occur over the course of a child’s 5 years. His hair color may change several times, or it may remain the same. As a rule, hair color can change in the first two years of a child's life, and completes its formation by 5 years.

IMPORTANT!

With the onset of puberty in a teenager's body, testosterone levels change, which in turn can affect changes in hair color.

Thanks to this, the shade of the eyes is determined and there are a huge number of these shades. There is even a possibility that blue-eyed parents will have a baby with brown eyes.

Features of facial features and figure Some of the “signature” facial features, such as a dimple on the chin and dimples on the cheeks, symmetry, are inherited from ancestors, although somewhat modified.

Almost all characteristic features of appearance, as well as the shape of hands, fingers, nails, are created and formed from year to year over a long period, also passed on from generation to generation. Within the same family, you can notice similarities even in the lines of fingerprints.

Even crooked teeth of ancestors can become the property of descendants. Height Although short stature is a dominant trait, children usually have a height that is average between that of their parents.

The influence of genetic factors on the appearance of a newborn

But it is virtually impossible to predict the exact weight category of a baby.

Based on genetic indicators, it is only possible to guess the weight of the child, but there is no basis to say for sure that it will be exactly that.

Dark hair color suppresses light hair color. However, just as in the situation with eye color, the baby’s hair can be a color between mom and dad’s color. This is influenced by the quantity and quality of mixing of pigments responsible for hair color.

The child's hair color may differ from the parent's, but it will still be in the same range as them.

Curls, freckles and 5 more appearance features that are inherited

If as a child your peers always shouted to you: “Red-haired, red-haired, freckled” or pulled your curls, then you can be said to be a unique person. Because not everyone gets such features of appearance. And not only those! Ah, these black eyes - they attract and are perfectly inherited!

Two brown-eyed parents are unlikely to have a blue-eyed (or gray-eyed, green-eyed) daughter (or son).

The probability that the eyes will also be brown is 75%. However, another 25% is the chance that both parents have recessive genes for blue (or green, gray) eyes in their genome - genes that were inherited from grandparents or other relatives. These genes meet each other, and as a result, a child is born with light eyes, not at all like those of the parents.

Another dominant feature is dark hair.

Both of these traits are also dominant. It is worth knowing that a red-haired baby can be born not only from a red-haired parent.

There is a very high probability of this if, for example, dad is dark-haired and mom is blonde (or vice versa). It’s just that the same dark hair color can be with a slightly noticeable reddish tint, and no one will even guess that such a gene is dominant in the person’s father.

Geneticists say that 75 to 90% of a child’s growth depends on heredity, the rest – 10-25% – on the lifestyle and sports that the baby will engage in. You can calculate the future height of a child using the formula: add the height of the mother and father, divide the resulting amount by two.

It seems to us that this is a defect in appearance, but nature does not think so - she took this sign as a dominant one.

That is, if one of the parents has a hump on the nose or protruding ears, or dimples on the cheeks, there is a high probability that such “beauty” will be passed on to the baby.

By the way, this also applies to bald spots and sparse hair - this trait is especially well transmitted from man to man.

But there is no need to be upset, it is better to find the positive qualities of such a gift of nature. For example, regarding the hump, it can be reassuring to know that in some cultures a nose with a hump is considered a sign of sexuality.

Scientists have also found that owners of such an organ of smell inhale 70% less harmful substances and rarely suffer from sinusitis and a runny nose. A girl who looks like her dad and a boy who looks like his mother will be happy.

In any case, there is such a belief.

And it appeared for a reason: after all, most often a male child inherits the appearance of the mother, and a baby inherits the appearance of the father.

This is because during conception, a boy is given his mother’s X and father’s Y chromosomes, and it is the X chromosome that is responsible for the external characteristics of the child. A girl has the same chance of being like her dad or mom, because she receives an X chromosome from each parent. Related tags: thank you, your vote has been accepted

For general development: why do children and parents have different appearances...

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Advice 1: What external characteristics are inherited as dominant in a person?

Girls receive an X chromosome from each parent, so they can look like both their father and mother.

Tip 2: What are the signs of conception Quite often, women torment themselves, thinking about whether their pregnancy has occurred or not. Of course, this can be found out through an ultrasound, but this opportunity will appear only 3-4 weeks after conception. How can you find out the answer to such an exciting question in the first days and weeks?

Mom or dad? What appearance will your child get?

Unfortunately, these same experts also consider protruding ears to be a very strong trait that is inherited.

So, if someone in your family boasts funny ears, the child will receive them as a dowry.

Some men are crazy about girls of model size with a height of at least 175 cm, others prefer miniature Thumbelina.

Ladies, unfortunately, are more categorical: in modern society, tall macho men are valued (short Tom Cruise is an exception to the rule; after all, his too pretty face compensates for his short stature).

Therefore, most likely, you dream of a giant son, before whose charms not a single beauty can resist.

Alas, predicting the growth of a future baby is a very difficult task. After all, it is influenced not only by the parameters of the parents, but also by lifestyle, nutrition, and past illnesses.

Source: https://civilyur.ru/kak-nasleduetsja-cvet-volos-92947/

We determine according to the parents...

Quite often it happens that young parents begin to argue about whose facial features will dominate in their future child. It’s better not to argue, but to try to understand the basics of genetics. What are genes, how do they combine with each other and how do they influence the external characteristics of the child? A gene is a part of a DNA molecule that stores and transmits hereditary information. But it is important to note that not the entire set of genes is inherited. For example, a particular person is a carrier of the strabismus gene, but this does not mean that he himself has some vision problems. All the genes of a particular person taken together are called a genotype. And, based on it, the process of forming a phenotype begins - a set of transmitted genes.

It is in principle possible to calculate the color of a child's hair. Basically, the unborn baby will exhibit the strongest, dominant genes. So, for example, the gene for light hair shades is weak and recessive. This is why it is quite difficult to meet people with very light natural hair shades on the street.

Traits that are caused by strong, dominant genes are:

Large, expressive eyes
Plump lips
Dark hair color and curly hair
Brown eyes
Small stature
Dark skin tone
Freckles
Good hearing
Right-handedness.

Recessive genes include:

Blue or green eyes
Thin lips
Light hair color
Straight hair
Bright skin
High growth
Left-handedness.

What kind of interaction occurs between genes? It does not happen in all cases that strong genes suppress weak ones. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account not only the external data of the parents, but also previous generations of the family. The color of a child's hair depends on all of the above factors.

Many mothers, while expecting a baby, often think about how he will be born, what color eyes and hair he will have, what nose, lips and height he will have. Will he look like his parents or will he inherit the features of one of his relatives? Genetics can provide answers to these questions even before the baby is born.

Based on the laws of genetics, let's look at the algorithms by which a child's appearance is most often formed.

How does genetics affect your child's personality and appearance?

While you were expecting a baby, you probably imagined what your baby would be like. Will he be the same height as his father? Will he have the same curly hair as you? Will he inherit his grandfather's sense of humor?

According to experts, there are between 60,000 and 100,000 genes (made up of DNA) in human chromosomes. A child receives 23 chromosomes from his mother and 23 from his father.

Given all the possible combinations of genes, one couple has the probability of having 64 trillion different children.

This fact suggests that it is impossible to predict what your child will look like. Genetics is a complex science, but knowing some of the basics can give you some information to get a rough idea of what your baby will look like.

Remember how in high school biology classes you were told about genes, given examples on rabbits, and even given problems to solve about what kind of rabbits a pair of rabbits could produce.

At that time you were told that a dominant gene always knocks out a recessive one. Well, scientists have always known that humans are much more complex than rabbits.

But in recent years, they have managed to find out how much more complicated it is.

As it turns out, most human qualities are polygenic—that is, they are the result of the interaction of many genes. Certain qualities, such as weight, height and especially personality traits, also have a significant impact on which genes will be expressed in a child and which will remain muted.

Eye color

If only one pair of genes influenced eye color, there would be a maximum of three shades of iris color—brown, blue, and possibly green. But human eye color has a whole spectrum of shades of these colors. This is because iris color is a polygenic trait.

Eye color is determined by the amount of melanin, or brown pigment, in the iris. Dark eyes have a large amount of this pigment, blue eyes, on the contrary, contain a very small amount of it. Other colors, such as green or gray, may have different amounts of melanin. The brown iris is inherited dominantly, the blue iris is inherited recessively.

But not everything is so simple. Since different genes are likely responsible for how much brown pigment you inherit and where it appears in the eye (for example, the eye color may be green with small flecks of brown), there is huge potential for a wide range of shades.

Even if both parents have blue eyes, there is a chance that they will have a brown-eyed child.

What kind of eyes will your child have?

Facial features and physique

It is generally accepted that external characteristics such as dimples, widow's peak and facial symmetry (for example, one eyebrow is more raised than the other) are dominant and are passed on from generation to generation. Hand shapes, finger shapes, and unusual appearance features such as hair with double curls often appear over several generations.

Fingerprints of family members have been shown to have significant similarities.

Experts also say that crooked teeth are also inherited because the shape of the jaw and the inclination of the teeth are genetically determined. There is even a gene that is responsible for gaps between teeth.

To determine what facial features your child might have, it's worth studying photographs of relatives over several generations. If most family members have a round face shape or a prominent chin, then there is a high probability that your child will have these external characteristics.

Height and weight

In order to calculate approximately what your child's final height will be, divide the sum of mom and dad's height by two. Then add two centimeters if you are having a boy, or subtract two centimeters if you are having a girl.

For example, if your height is 165 cm, and your husband’s height is 180, then your son will most likely be 175 cm tall, and your daughter will most likely be 170 cm tall.

Of course, genetics is an unpredictable thing, and this system for calculating height is very approximate. The child may be taller than both parents or shorter.

Other important factors that determine your baby's final height are nutrition and health.

If your child is genetically programmed to be 180 tall, he or she may end up shorter if he or she is not fed enough or if there are factors that hinder his or her height.

On the other hand, your child may turn out to be taller than you expected, as studies have shown that improved nutrition has boosted height for centuries.

It is very difficult to guess how thin or fat your child will be. Genes only determine a person’s propensity for a certain weight, but here again everything depends on the person’s diet, daily routine and activity.

When both parents are obese, it is likely that their child will also be overweight.

A child may be obese due to genetics, eating habits, or a combination of both.

Hair color

In general, dark hair color dominates light hair color. But, as with the eyes, your baby's hair may be a beautiful shade that falls somewhere between your hair and your husband's hair color.

It all depends on the pigments you have in your hair and how those pigments will mix.

Parents who have similar hair color may have a child whose hair color will be slightly different, but within the same color range as theirs.

However, it is amazing what kind of hair a child born to parents with different hair colors can end up with. This usually occurs when a recessive color gene from one parent is mixed with the other.

Thus, a black-haired parent carrying a recessive gene for blond hair could potentially have blond hair if that gene is expressed and mixed with the gene for blond hair color carried by the other parent.

Red hair was once considered recessive, but it has been discovered that it is dominant over blonde hair. A person may not even know that his hair has a red pigment. For example, your hair may have a reddish tint that is masked by stronger brown or black pigment.

Personal qualities

Experts say there is no doubt that many personality characteristics, such as how your child reacts to noise, are genetically determined. But experts also do not deny that a lot depends on the environment in which the child grows up.

For example, a child may inherit a tendency to constantly seek adventure (a “novelty-seeking” gene has been identified).

However, your influence on your child and the environment in which he grows up may cause your child to be less restless, have a different desire for adventure than the parent from whom he inherited the gene, or he will be completely calm.

In the same way, the environment influences the development of a child’s talents.

It has been proven that creative abilities are also transmitted genetically, and will develop if parents provide all the conditions for this.

And, conversely, if a person does not have access to artistic materials or musical instruments, then his talent will remain unrealized.

Fortunately, this pattern also works in the opposite direction: if a person does not have innate abilities for creativity, he can develop them through constant work on himself and desire.

There is hardly any personal quality that is entirely determined by genetics alone.

Eye color

If dad has dark brown eyes and mom has blue eyes, then the child is likely to have brown eyes. The gene for brown eyes is dominant (strong), and the gene for blue eyes is recessive (weak). If both parents have brown eyes, then they are unlikely to have a child with green, gray or blue eyes. As time passes, they will begin to darken, gradually turning brown.

But if both parents are blue-eyed, then the baby will most likely have blue eyes.

Inheritance of hair color in humans

With the development of science and methods for studying the human genetic apparatus, it was possible to establish that genes are discrete units and to clarify some laws of inheritance. and also to study the mechanisms of storage, reproduction and use of hereditary information by living organs. With the discovery of the structure and functions of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), genetics finally moved into the category of exact sciences, which made it possible to rise to a completely different level of understanding of the occurrence and development of a large number of diseases that can be inherited or at least the tendency to which can be genetically determined.

Hair color

The gene for dark hair outweighs the gene for light hair because its pigment is strong. If both parents are fair, then the baby will also be born blonde or light brown. And if dad is a bright brunette, and mom is blonde, then the baby’s hair will be dark or light brown.

Interesting fact: a child who was born dark from this combination may have light-colored children in the future. The fact is that children of mixed genes receive both a strong gene from their father and a weak gene from their mother. Later, the weak gene can “merge” with the weak gene of the partner - and the child’s appearance will be light.

Also, the child may be completely different from you if he inherits wandering genes from distant relatives. Thus, in a brown-haired family, a red-haired baby may suddenly be born, and there are also cases when a dark-skinned child was born to white-skinned parents, even if there were mulattoes in the family even several generations ago.

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Dark hair

Another dominant feature is dark hair. Their pigment often outweighs, that is, if one parent is a burning brunette, and the second is fair-haired, then there is a high probability that the baby will be dark-haired. True, even here the percentage does not exceed 80: the chance that the baby is blond remains.

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By the way, in this case, his children can be dark-haired, even with both fair-haired parents (after all, the recessive gene for dark hair is already automatically embedded in the child’s genome).