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To: muawiyah

Eye color questions.

My Scottish ancestry husband had clear bright blue eyes and red hair (according to a recent FR post that may mean he has some Neanderthal ancestry. I have hazel (northern European) eyes. When our two sons were born they had dark brown eyes. Since my husbands eyes were completely recessive, the brown had to come from me. Probably my Prussian German ancestors had some ancestry from the Mongolain Tartar invasion of Eastern Europe. Since oriental traits are often recessive to caucasian ones, I must have a dark brown semi-recessive eye color gene which overmastered my husbands true blue gene.


154 posted on 03/04/2006 1:15:26 AM PST by gleeaikin (Question Authority)
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To: gleeaikin

Simple ~ your kids inherited your recessive for pigmentation on the front of the iris, and your husband's recessive for pigmentation on the back of the iris. This yields brown eyes every single time.


155 posted on 03/04/2006 5:52:50 AM PST by muawiyah (-)
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To: gleeaikin
BTW, his "recessive" was simply not expressed.

It's noteworthy that in Finland they distinguish between two major populations on either side of a major river there by whether or not they have blue eyes (the fellows to the West of the river) or gray eyes (the fellows to the East of the river.)

Although outsiders might think they all have blue eyes, the Finns do notice the gray/blue difference.

This difference is also apparantly linked to some genes that control cholesterol production and levels, and by forcing change in the diets of the gray eyed people, the Finns have improved their heart health and lengthened their lives to measurable degrees.

Check those eyes again ~ bet they are "gray".

Your own "hazel" combed with a "gray" yields "brown". Remember, it's not a matter of having or not having pigmentation ~ it's where that pigment shows up on the iris ~ inside, outside, or both ~ that gives the different colors.

156 posted on 03/04/2006 5:58:11 AM PST by muawiyah (-)
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