OPTION C: GENETIC ADVICE

A close friend confides in you that he thinks that one of "his" children is not his. When pressed

for details he points out to you that both he and his wife have dark brown hair and that his baby

has blonde hair. In the conversation he adds that although his mother was a blonde and his wife's

father was a blonde, that it is pretty obvious that neither he nor his wife have blonde genes.

What do say to your friend? Use a chart or diagram to support your conclusions.

Answer:

What I would day to my friend is that he is being irrational because dominate genes are not

always what children get and it is clear that both he and his wife carry the recessive gene of

blond hair. They simply both inherited the dominant brown hair gene, as well as the blond hair

gene, and this is why their child has blond hair, and they both have brown hair. Dominant genes

will always shine through if it is present, but if the child gets the same type of recessive gene

(such as blond hair) that will show up due to the fact that they only inherited the recessive gene. I

would explain to him that a gene is a small section if a chromosome; the basic unit for the

transmission of heredity. A gene consists of a string of chemicals that provide instructions for the

cell to manufacture certain proteins and due to this procedure what traits a child gets might

surprise people. I would draw up a Punnett Square for him, as I have here:
I would tell him that the row at the top is him, and the column down the side represents his wife.

I would tell him if he and his wife had 4 children, there is a 1 in 4 chance that they would have a

blond child, or a child that didnt inherit the brown hair that is dominant in him, his wife, and his

other 3 theoretical children. There is a 25% chance that any child that they conceive would have

blond hair, because if the recessive gene is present in both him and his wife it is more than

possible for those genes to pass onto their offspring. I would listen to his thoughts about how he

thinks that it is clear that neither he nor his wife has blond genes, I would encourage him to read

up on the subject, because being so closely related to blond people, they genetically carry blond

genes. I would further tell him that some genes have different versions, as is obvious for eye

color genes or hair color genes. So, if my friend started to make the argument that his childs

blond hair doesnt look like his father in laws or his mothers, I would point out that no hair shade

is the exact same. Also, children may grow out of blond hair, into darker hair, and that could be

due to the fact that he actually did end up inheriting that brown hair gene, or simply about the
environment that he grew up in, so my friend should not be panicking about this subject

prematurely. Another thing that I would bring up with him is that he shouldnt just assume that

his child is not his. He should do some research about exactly how genes, chromosomes, and

alleles work before he jump to the conclusion that his wife had been unfaithful to him. There are

many reasons why his child could end up with blond hair, and if he were to take my Punnett

Square into careful consideration, he would hopefully come to the conclusion that I did, which is

that he had a 25% chance that he and his wife would have a blond child every time that they

conceive.

Citations:

Berger, K. S. (2016). Chapter 6. In Invitation to the Lifespan (3rd ed., p. 48). New York City, NY:

Worth .