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Q: Inheritance of features ( No Answer,   5 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Inheritance of features
Category: Family and Home > Relationships
Asked by: bearmead-ga
List Price: $30.00
Posted: 12 Aug 2006 02:00 PDT
Expires: 11 Sep 2006 02:00 PDT
Question ID: 755235
One of my daughters will probably marry a coloured man. My daughter is white. 
He has a white father and a light skinned black negroid mother. I would describe 
him as one third black with negroid features. My question is what are the 
percentage chances governing the colour of any offspring from the union. 
In particular is it possible for them to have a child who is darker than him, 
what are the chances of any child having negroid features, could a child be 
white and what are the prospects for future generations.
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Inheritance of features
From: amber00-ga on 12 Aug 2006 05:30 PDT
 
I'm not sure that it is possible to make such predictions with any
degree of accuracy because there are too many variables.

Question 715642 covered a related area; exploring cases where two
white parents had a black child.
Here's the link:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=715642

(I'm not a  GA reseacher, so the link won't be clickable. You'll have
to paste it into your browser. This is a free comment.)
Subject: Re: Inheritance of features
From: elids-ga on 12 Aug 2006 09:15 PDT
 
Although this does not address the issue of features it does explain
the many variables in skin pigmentation inheritance.
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0000027
Subject: Re: Inheritance of features
From: pinkfreud-ga on 12 Aug 2006 13:11 PDT
 
I don't think this can be answered in any meaningful way. Race is a
primarily a cultural construct, not a genetic one.
Subject: Re: Inheritance of features
From: alanna-ga on 12 Aug 2006 14:19 PDT
 
Skin color has an unusual inheritance in that there is usually a
"paint-mixing" effect with offspring skin color being intermediate to
that of the parents. Usually offspring are no darker than the darkest
parent. Facial features are inherited individually, not as a "set." 
Each element of the face--eyes, mouth, nostrils, eyebrow arch,
cheekbones etc--is inherited independently of all the others.
Subject: Re: Inheritance of features
From: standgale-ga on 29 Aug 2006 15:43 PDT
 
I would say that in terms of having negroid features, it is at least
possible that the child will look as negroid as the father - or as
non-negroid as the mother. For instance, as completely non-scientific
evidence, my sister and brother look just like my Dad and not at all
like my Mum, whereas I look mostly like my Mum. So I would imagine it
is possible to look very similar to one parent but not to the other. I
have also heard of "throw-backs" in skin colour where the child can be
very dark and darker than the parents in terms of skin colour. I
assume it can also happen the other way - dark skinned parents with
lighter skinned ancestors can end up with lighter children?
I think some children also appear to look darker-skinned at their time
of birth, and then seem lighter later on.
Further to the inheritence of physical features, for example, I also
have reddish hair and greenish eyes, which were last strongly apparent
in my great-grandmother.
Thus I think you cannot predict much that is definite with the
appearence of the children and any furture children - almost anything
might happen. Obviously there is a higher chance of a mix of features
present in the parents and also the grandparents, than particularly
heavy leanings in any particular direction or recurrences of features
further back in the family tree.
If I find anything scientific I will post back, the link provided by
amber00 is interesting.
(I am just bored at work...)

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