Recessive Genes vs. Dominant?

Question

My mom has 4 kids. My one sister is the only one who is naturally skinny, and she doesn't have freckles. The rest of us were similar looking babies. She looked Chinese when she was a baby.

What I'm basically saying is that she's different from us. When a recessive gene appears, do other recessive genes usually follow along? Because she has more than one difference.

Is it common for one out of the 4 children to have all the recessive traits??

Answer 1

One in four children having a recessive trait is exactly what you would expect by chance, so that is not surprising. Example: Say B stands for brown eyes, which are dominant, and b for blue which are recessive. Each person carries two sets of genes, but the dominant masks the recessive. They each pass one of the genes on to the next generation. Say the Father is Bb and the mother is also Bb. So thier children can have BB, Bb, bB or bb. Only in one of four cases will the child have blue eyes.  As for recessive traits being inherited together I don't think so, but I have observed sometimes there is a strong tendency for a person to look like a particular ancestor.

Answer 2

Actually, there is dominance in hair color.  Both blondes and redheads are rapidly disappearing because both blond(e) hair and red hair is recessive.

Dominance/recessiveness is pretty much a hit or miss thing; I had one brother who was a red head; 1 brother who has heavy set (and short), 2 really tall...

In other words, almost anything can happen! :) :)

Answer 3

Of couse people will ask, "Are you positive the father is the father of all four kids?"

But even if he is, you don't know that the 3 kids are displaying the recessives, and the other the dominant.

And not all traits are dominant or recessive. For example, there is no dominance in hair color, but there is in eye color.

Answer 4

This is the genealogy forum, not genetics.  They are not the same thing.

Genealogy is a HISTORICAL body of research of one's deceased ancestors, and is about birth/marriage/death dates and places, what countries our ancestors came from, how our ancestors affected and impacted history, etc; and uses HISTORICAL documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, tax records, land records, court records, church records, wills and probate records, etc., to back up and document our research, and anyone can do it if they work at it.  It is not about hair and eye color, etc.

Genetics is a SCIENCE that requires years of college and specialized training to do, and is concerned with genes, microbiology, etc., and uses SCIENTIFIC methods and experiments to prove or disprove theory or to show cause and effect.  Research is done in a lab, not in the records basement of court houses and churches.

Genealogists are not geneticists.

Answer 5

Thank Goodness we all understand the significant difference between Genetics and Genealogy!  Now if only we could figure out the difference between Constructive Criticism and Rudeness. . . It is shocking to me that someone of your obvious "superior" intelligence couldn't find something better to do than belittle this person for asking a simple question. Would it had not been better to spend this time instead helping to find the answer regardless of its (understandable) misfiling?