Genetic Advice

Question

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.

Dear Science for Parents,

My wife and I both have dark brown hair we just had our third baby boy has blonde hair. My
mother is the only blonde in my family, all six of my siblings have brown hair. My wife's father
and brother are blondes, but it is pretty obvious that neither my wife or I have blonde genes. I’m
considering approaching my wife about this because I’m starting to wonder if she had an affair.

The Paranoid Parent

* Names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of our writers.

Answer

Dear Paranoid Parent,

It must be an awful feeling to be concerned about your son’s paternity; just because you
and your wife both have dark brown hair doesn’t mean your son cannot have blonde hair.
Previously it was believed that our genes were linked to physical appearance but scientist have
proven that it is much more complicated (Berger, 2016, p. 49). With the information, you
provided me I can show that both you and your wife are carriers of the blonde allele and prove
that two brown-haired parents can have a blond child.
As most people know a child receives half of their genetic information from each parent.
Hair color is a physical appearance that is influenced by multiple genes (Berger, 2016, p. 56).
Appearance such as hair and eye color are impacted by alleles- variations that occur within
genes. Alleles can be dominant or recessive, the combination of the two alleles (one from each
parent) contributes to a child’s appearance. “The dominant gene, is far more influential than the
other, the recessive gene. When someone inherits a recessive gene that is not expressed in the
phenotype, that person is said to be a carrier of that gene: The recessive gene is carried on the
genotype” (Berger, 2016, p. 56). Brown hair is a dominant allele while blonde hair is a recessive
allele.
If someone has two recessive alleles this will allow the recessive trait to presents. Since
your mother is blonde, she has two recessive alleles contributing a recessive blonde allele to each
of her children. Therefore, we know that you must carry the recessive blonde allele. Your father
being a brunette has a dominant brown allele, for the purpose of this explanation, we will assume
that your father carries two dominant alleles for brown hair. As a result, your parents were
guaranteed to having children with brown hair and be recessive carriers for the blonde allele.
(See table 1 for additional details.) I also created an allele chart for your wife’s parents. I
determined your wife’s mother must be a recessive allele carrier since your brother-in-law is
blonde. Your wife’s parents had a fifty percent chance of their children having brown hair and a
fifty percent chance of having blond hair. Each child is a recessive carrier for blonde hair. (See
table 2 for additional details.)
You and wife each have one parent that is blonde so we know both of you are recessive
allele carriers. As two recessive allele carriers, your “children have one chance in four of
inheriting the recessive gene from both parents... A word to the wise: When a child looks like
neither parent, do not question paternity” (Berger, 2016, p.56). (See figure 3 the allele chart for
your children.)
With your mom having blonde hair and your wife’s father having blonde hair your
children have a 1 in 4 chance of being blonde. Physical appearance is not a good indicator for
paternity and can cause insecurity in many fathers. Based on the science it makes sense that one
of your children would be blonde.

Sincerely,
Science for Parents (Meghan)
* Names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of our writers.

Table 1: Allele chart for Paranoid

Paranoid’s Mom: blonde hair (bb)
Paranoid’s Dad: dark brown hair (BB)
Conclusion: All children will have brown hair and will be recessive carriers for blonde
hair.
b b

B Bb (brown) Bb (brown)

B Bb (brown) Bb (brown)

Table 2: In-laws allele chart

Mom: brown hair (Bb)
Dad: blonde hair (bb)
Conclusion: Children have a fifty/fifty chance of having brown vs. blonde hair and all
children will be carriers for the blonde allele.
B b

b Bb (brown) bb (blonde)

b Bb (brown) bb (blonde)

Table 3: Allele chart for Paranoid’s children

Father: brown hair (Bb)
Mother: brown hair (Bb)
Conclusion: Children have a 75% chance of having brown hair and a 25% chance of
having blonde hair.
B b
 B BB (brown) Bb (brown)

b Bb (brown) bb (blonde)

Reference List

Berger, K. S. (2016). Invitation to the life span (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.