say if the mother or father has blue eyes and red hair and the daughter has brown eyes and black hair how does this happen?

The issue of inheritance of traits and genetics include change, combinations of genes, and random chance. Otherwise, we would all be duplicates of one parent. As for the daughter with eye and hair color, there are various possibilities: 1. The genes for eye color and hair color possess dominance and recessiveness, so maybe both mother and father had recessive genes for brown eyes and black hair, while they may have dominant genes for blue eyes and red hair. So both parents have genes (blue+brown) for eyes, and dominant blue for eyes wins out, so the parents have blue eyes, and have genes (red+black) for hair, and the dominant red for hair wins out, so both parents have red hair. The sperm and egg only have half the genes, so the father can produce sperm with only blue-genes for eyes or only brown-genes for eyes, but not both, and the same goes for the mother producing eggs with only blue-genes or only brown-genes. Same goes for the hair genes. Therefore, the daughter may have been conceived with a (brown eyes, black hair) sperm and a (brown eyes, black hair) egg to get both (brown-brown) genes for eyes, with no dominating blue gene for the eyes, and both (black-black) genes for hair, with no dominating red gene for the hair. 2. There may not be genes for dominance-recessiveness, since it depends on the trait, but genes can blend or cross-over, so maybe the brown-eye gene was formed from parts of the eye genes from both parents, and the part for blue-eyes did not collect together, with only parts for brown eyes blending and collecting to form the daughter's genes. 3. Multiple genes cause a trait, so the daughter got a combination of two or more genes that made brown eyes, which was a different combination than the parents had. 4. Mutation ... by some random chance, a gene was not properly copied, leaving out the genes for blue eyes, or radiation randomly hit a gene changing the A nucleotide to T or something like that, changing the blue-eye gene to a brown-eye gene. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance and note the discussion of Punnett Squares for how recessive traits can show up in children but not in their parents.

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Big History Project

Unit 5: Lesson 1

5.0—What Is Life?

Activity: How Closely Related Are We?

Google Classroom

Purpose

This activity will help you understand the relationship between different species, and show you how we (humans) are related to other species. The evolution of life from bacteria to humans is pretty hard to wrap your mind around, and showing connections among different species will increase your understanding.

Process

One of the amazing things about life is just how interconnected living things are. Genetic studies have helped biologists pin down the extent of these connections. In this activity you will be asked to consider what you know about these relationships.

Look at the How Closely Related Are We? Worksheet and try to match the list of organisms with the percentage of DNA shared with humans.

Once you have done this, take a look at the answer key, and see how well you did.

For Further Discussion

Some people find it surprising that chimps and zebrafish have so much DNA in common. What are some of the physical traits they share? Post your thoughts to the Questions Area below.

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Yellow Top White Knot
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Yellow Top White Knot's post “They share eyes, mouths, ...”
They share eyes, mouths, teeth, bones, tail-bones, rectums, spines,
(6 votes)
Answer
Alex Harper
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Alex Harper's post “they both have a way to m...”
they both have a way to move around
(4 votes)
Answer
frew.wilmot
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to frew.wilmot's post “They both have to eat and...”
They both have to eat and they can reproduce. They have eyes, noses, and mouths. They also both have digestive systems. That's about all I can think of.
(3 votes)
Answer
jaydes18
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to jaydes18's post “say if the mother or fath...”
say if the mother or father has blue eyes and red hair and the daughter has brown eyes and black hair how does this happen?
(2 votes)
Answer
- 2891112
  Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to 2891112's post “The issue of inheritance ...”
  The issue of inheritance of traits and genetics include change, combinations of genes, and random chance. Otherwise, we would all be duplicates of one parent.
  As for the daughter with eye and hair color, there are various possibilities:
  1. The genes for eye color and hair color possess dominance and recessiveness, so maybe both mother and father had recessive genes for brown eyes and black hair, while they may have dominant genes for blue eyes and red hair. So both parents have genes (blue+brown) for eyes, and dominant blue for eyes wins out, so the parents have blue eyes, and have genes (red+black) for hair, and the dominant red for hair wins out, so both parents have red hair. The sperm and egg only have half the genes, so the father can produce sperm with only blue-genes for eyes or only brown-genes for eyes, but not both, and the same goes for the mother producing eggs with only blue-genes or only brown-genes. Same goes for the hair genes. Therefore, the daughter may have been conceived with a (brown eyes, black hair) sperm and a (brown eyes, black hair) egg to get both (brown-brown) genes for eyes, with no dominating blue gene for the eyes, and both (black-black) genes for hair, with no dominating red gene for the hair.
  2. There may not be genes for dominance-recessiveness, since it depends on the trait, but genes can blend or cross-over, so maybe the brown-eye gene was formed from parts of the eye genes from both parents, and the part for blue-eyes did not collect together, with only parts for brown eyes blending and collecting to form the daughter's genes.
  3. Multiple genes cause a trait, so the daughter got a combination of two or more genes that made brown eyes, which was a different combination than the parents had.
  4. Mutation ... by some random chance, a gene was not properly copied, leaving out the genes for blue eyes, or radiation randomly hit a gene changing the A nucleotide to T or something like that, changing the blue-eye gene to a brown-eye gene.
  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance and note the discussion of Punnett Squares for how recessive traits can show up in children but not in their parents.
  (2 votes)
17sintyl
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to 17sintyl's post “They both produce energy”
They both produce energy
(1 vote)
Answer
Dawn
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Dawn's post “when a red eye female and...”
when a red eye female and white eyed male mix why are there no white eyed offspring
(1 vote)
Answer
gbalatra503
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to gbalatra503's post “What do you think the pri...”
What do you think the primordial species was like?
(1 vote)
Answer
MargaretWMerritt
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to MargaretWMerritt's post “It seems strange to share...”
It seems strange to share so much DNA with a zebrafish. How does that work?
(1 vote)
Answer
- 2891112
  Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to 2891112's post “The issue of inheritance ...”
  The issue of inheritance of traits and genetics include change, combinations of genes, and random chance. Otherwise, we would all be duplicates of one parent.
  As for the daughter with eye and hair color, there are various possibilities:
  1. The genes for eye color and hair color possess dominance and recessiveness, so maybe both mother and father had recessive genes for brown eyes and black hair, while they may have dominant genes for blue eyes and red hair. So both parents have genes (blue+brown) for eyes, and dominant blue for eyes wins out, so the parents have blue eyes, and have genes (red+black) for hair, and the dominant red for hair wins out, so both parents have red hair. The sperm and egg only have half the genes, so the father can produce sperm with only blue-genes for eyes or only brown-genes for eyes, but not both, and the same goes for the mother producing eggs with only blue-genes or only brown-genes. Same goes for the hair genes. Therefore, the daughter may have been conceived with a (brown eyes, black hair) sperm and a (brown eyes, black hair) egg to get both (brown-brown) genes for eyes, with no dominating blue gene for the eyes, and both (black-black) genes for hair, with no dominating red gene for the hair.
  2. There may not be genes for dominance-recessiveness, since it depends on the trait, but genes can blend or cross-over, so maybe the brown-eye gene was formed from parts of the eye genes from both parents, and the part for blue-eyes did not collect together, with only parts for brown eyes blending and collecting to form the daughter's genes.
  3. Multiple genes cause a trait, so the daughter got a combination of two or more genes that made brown eyes, which was a different combination than the parents had.
  4. Mutation ... by some random chance, a gene was not properly copied, leaving out the genes for blue eyes, or radiation randomly hit a gene changing the A nucleotide to T or something like that, changing the blue-eye gene to a brown-eye gene.
  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance and note the discussion of Punnett Squares for how recessive traits can show up in children but not in their parents.
  (1 vote)
17dithan
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to 17dithan's post “They both have a backbone...”
They both have a backbone.
(1 vote)
Answer
17wildyl
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to 17wildyl's post “They both produce energy.”
They both produce energy.
(1 vote)
Answer