When we were
discussing crossing over, and genetics I was thinking about a question that I
had when my daughter was born in 2010. I know that my daughter is a combination
of mine and her father’s chromosomes and also our ancestor’s genes, generations
and generations of science and biology combining to make up our family. I remember
in high school learning that the brown eye gene was dominant over the blue eye
gene, which made my question even more baffling. The question that I was going
to bring up in class but I decided against is how is it that I am able to have
a bi-racial daughter who is African-American and Caucasian and her father and I
both have brown eyes, but she was given the most amazing blue eyes that I have
seen on a bi-racial person. Now I know that there are blue eyes on both my
mothers and fathers side, but not on her fathers’ side…when I was researching
articles for this assignment, I came across this article that gave me a little
bit better of an understanding. http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2008/02/01-01.html?ref=hp
“Don’t
it Make Your Brown Eyes Blue?” by
Elizabeth Quill February 1, 2008.
I know that
even though brown eyes dominate over blue eyes there is still a possibility that
the offspring of two brown eyed parents can win the crossover and get the blue
eyed gene. I was very shocked to get a chance to see the slight probability of
this amazing gift unfold in my own daughter that I brought into this world. The
HERC2 gene is what I have to thank for this incredible work of beauty, it turns
out that this gene that all blue eyed individuals hold can all be traced back
to
a “single common ancestor that was born some 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.”
I know that is not common for infant babies to have blue eyes for the first few months of their lives, which is what I believed was the case in this situation, but a little over two years after the day I was blessed with my angel her eyes are still as gorgeous if not more so than the day she was put into my world. It amazes me that these pretty blue eyes are not only meant for people of European decent, but also that they would not be possible without a mutation of a gene. This mutation that I am speaking of took place somewhere in my family history, made me a part of but somehow managed to dodge my chemical make-up and hit my daughter, this is one of the many miracles of biology and science in general. I know that crossing over was the main function of this whole ordeal and I think that it is really cool to get a first-hand experience to back up this example and give me a reference to relate this terminology to. Desiree Everson
I know that is not common for infant babies to have blue eyes for the first few months of their lives, which is what I believed was the case in this situation, but a little over two years after the day I was blessed with my angel her eyes are still as gorgeous if not more so than the day she was put into my world. It amazes me that these pretty blue eyes are not only meant for people of European decent, but also that they would not be possible without a mutation of a gene. This mutation that I am speaking of took place somewhere in my family history, made me a part of but somehow managed to dodge my chemical make-up and hit my daughter, this is one of the many miracles of biology and science in general. I know that crossing over was the main function of this whole ordeal and I think that it is really cool to get a first-hand experience to back up this example and give me a reference to relate this terminology to. Desiree Everson
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