Both parents have blue eyes, I have brown?

Question

Both my parents have blue eyes.

I know that blue is recessive and any dominate gene would change them

But I was born with brown eyes. Not dark brown, a light yellowish brown.

I know that my father is my biological father, due to a test my mom got done a long time ago due to other issues

So, I was wondering, is this possible? I've read its not. But, my friend has two different colored eyes, I've read its impossible, and I've also read, its very rare...

Answer 1

I know you don't want to hear form a complete stranger that at least one of your parents is not really your biological parent.  But the overwhelming likelihood is that this is the case.  Sure, there are some one in a million scenarios that could explain such a phenomenon, but non-paternity in the United States is 10%.  That is, in 10% of births, the father listed on the birth certificate is not the real father.  If you really want the truth, you need to sit down with your parents and have a very frank talk.  If they won't tell you the truth, as a last resort you could swipe some hair from each and have the tests done yourself.

OR, you could just let it go.  Some truths are better left unspoken, especially if you have a loving, happy family life.  Do you really want to mess that up?

I hold a PhD in molecular and human genetics from a fairly prestigious institution.  For better or for worse, I am telling you the way it is.

Answer 2

My dad had green eyes and my mom had brown.  Three of us have blue and one has brown.  Quit worrying.

Answer 3

Don't freak out. You don't just inherit your parents genes but your elders genes too. So if anyone in your family has or had brown eyes (that arent in laws)

You have a dominant gene and it IS very possible that you might end up with that gene. Certain characteristics can skip generations. Other rarities like that are having twins, hair color, and even skin pigment.

Answer 4

my father had black hair and hazel eyes, my mother has brown hair and green eyes, i have brown hair and brown eyes. my younger sister has blonde hair and blue eyes, and my youngest brother has red hair and blue eyes.

there are alot of red heads and blondes on my grandmothers side.

Answer 5

david bowie has differnt coloured eyes

Answer 6

Eye colour is a polygenic trait - which means it is actually controlled by several different genes. And each of those genes can have several different alleles - which is why there are so many possible eye colours in humans (brown, hazel, green, blue, grey, violet, amber, etc.)

So, while it is unusual for two blue-eyed parents to have a hazel-eye coloured child, it isn't impossible.

Answer 7

blue eye color is a recessive trait, but that doesn't mean that all of your parents eggs/sperm express only the alleles for blue eyes.  you just happened to get gametes that didn't both express alleles for blue eyes so you have brown.

Answer 8

It is possible that one of your parents blue eyes is due to a "somatic" mutation that occured during thier development.  Blue eyes the result of no color in the iris.  This can be caused by "breaking" of the the gene that allows color to be put into the iris. If one of your parents were heterozygous for eye color ( blue/nonblue) but a mutation occured to make some of their cells blue/blue but not all of their cells were changed, then they may still be able to pass the non/blue gene to you yet still have blue eyes themselves.  One way to explore this is to do a pedigree of your family.  Which if any of your parents had parents with non-blue eyes?  Do you have any siblings? What color eyes do they have?

The two differently colored eyes can also be explained by "somatic" mutations.  In this case, the cells of only one eye have the damaged gene but the other eye can put color in.

Somatic mutations happen all the time.  It means that the DNA in cells in one part of our body isn't exactly the same as cells in all other parts of our body.  For example, cancer is caused by changes in only some of your cells.  The tumor cells have a change in the DNA.  As your cells divide to make you DNA has to be copied trillions of times.  Sometimes mistakes are made and changes occur.  These are somatic mutations.