I'm confused about racial genetics....?

I knew a woman with pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, she married an Iranian man and their children look very Middle Eastern...like there isn't a speck of white blood in them.





I knew a woman who was white, whose husband was Mestizo, but instead of the darker race dominating, the children appeared moreso white...





How does racial inheritance/genetics work...(just curious).





You'd think that the first children wouldn't have looked so Middle Eastern since there mother was so fair, and that the second childrne would have looked more Hispanic than white....

I'm confused about racial genetics....?
Some argue that although "race" is a valid taxonomic concept in other species, it cannot be applied to humans.[3] Mainstream scientists have argued that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, have many exceptions, have many gradations, and that the numbers of races delineated vary according to the culture making the racial distinctions; thus they reject the notion that any definition of race pertaining to humans can have taxonomic rigour and validity. Today most scientists study human genotypic and phenotypic variation using more rigorous concepts such as "population" and "clinal gradation." Many anthropologists contend that while the features on which racial categorizations are made may be based on genetic factors, the idea of race itself, and actual divisions of persons into groups based on selected hereditary features, are social constructs, whereas it has been proposed by Neil Risch from Stanford University that self identified race/ethnic group could be a valid means of categorization in the USA for public health and policy considerations, as a clustering analysis of 326 microsatellite markers can accurately place individuals in the USA into different groups. Other geneticists, however have shown that many more than 326 loci are required in order to show that individuals are always more similar to individuals in their own population group than to individuals in different population groups, even for three distinct populations. It has also been suggested that accurate classification of continuously sampled populations may be impossible








http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race
Reply:I don't remember much about genetics but I think it has something to do with dominant genes.
Reply:Its important to remember that inherited traits aren't like averages of parents. Like if you have one really tan parent and one pale parent, you don't get a semi-tanned kid. The dominant gene will always be physically expressed.





In your first example, the Iranian guy's genes must be more dominant. Blonde hair and blue eyes are both recessive traits, so if there is a stronger trait out there the light ones won't show up.





The second example is a bit more complex. Historically speaking a Mestizo is an offspring of a Spanish person (like from actual Spain.. fairer in complection.. like Antonio Banderas instead of the steriotypical illegal immigrant.. I don't mean that in a tacky way) and a person indegineous to Latin America (kinda the Indian look) is Mestizo. All offspring get two possible traits from parents. The Mestizo would get a recessive "lighter" gene from the mom and a dominant "darker" gene from the dad. So based on this, the woman had the recessive "white" genes (1 from mom and 1 from dad) and the Mestizo had a mixture (1 light and 1 dark). So when these 2 people went to have kids, they each randomly donante one of their genes. Mom is always going to donate a white gene, but dad is 50/50 and can donate 2 different genes. Based on this you would get 4 outcomes


Light, Light-- "whiter" complexion


Light, Dark-- "darker" complexion


Light, Light


Light, Dark


This couples kids just happened to get the lighter pair each time.
Reply:Dark traits usually dominate. Therefore a person with brown eyes for instance can carry some very strong recessive blue eyed genes and pass them on to his/her children.


It is very possible your friend will have some light skin grandchildren.





Now, there is a fallacy that two blue eyed people cannot have a brown eyed child. That is because brown eyes are dominant if a blue eyed person has a brown eyed parent any recessive brown eyed genes they carry are very weak. However, if you combine the recessive weak genes from both parents they can have a brown eyed child. For instance two blue eyed people both have a brown eyed parent.





I have a friend who has 2 brothers with PHD in genetics and college professors. They have stated that this is a fact.