Hair Color

Three siblings all have different hair colors, how does this happen? Hair is caused by two types of melanin called eumelanin and pheomelanin. The two kinds are eumelanin and pheomelanin. Pheomelanin lends reddish tones to the body. Eumelanin makes hair dark brown or black. Hair with a large amount of eumelanin will be black, but hair with a small amount of eumelanin will be blonde. The amount of eumelanin in hair is determined by genes. An equal number of genes come from your mother and your father but, eumelanin genes work in an additive way instead of a dominant and recessive way. So, the more eumelanin genes then the darker your hair will be. One child inherited few eumelanin genes, and the other inherited a lot.

            I picked this topic to study because I am very interested in it. I am interested in it because my father has dark blonde hair. His father has black hair, and his mother had blonde hair. I was curious to find out what caused the color of his hair. After reading the article, I found out that he received more of the blonde genes from his mother and some of the darker genes from his father.

http://www.bellasugar.com/Pheomelanin-5993899

-M S

Hair Color Genetics

Three children, same parents different hair color.
A set of parents have dark blonde hair, their son has blonde hair, but their daughter has dark brown hair. First of all, hair color happens because of a kind of pigment called melanin. There are two kinds of melanin. The two kinds are eumelanin and phomelanin. If your hair has a large amount of eumelanin, it will be black, but if your hair has a small amount of eumelanin, it will be blonde. The amount of eumelanin in hair, is determined by genes. There are only two possibilities of genes, one being from your mother and the second being from your father. Also, eumelanin genes work in an additive way instead of a dominant and recessive way. So, the more eumelanin genes, the darker your hair will be. Therefore, the son inherited few eumelanin genes, and the daughter inherited a lot. People get four copies of each gene from your mother and four from your father, which is a total of eight. The kids will get four copies of each gene from each of their parents, but there is no dominance. Since, the parents had dark blonde hair; the son inherited more blonde genes, while the daughter inherited more of the brown genes.

            I picked this topic to study because I am very interested in it. I am interested in it because my father has dark blonde hair. His father has black hair, and his mother had blonde hair. I was curious to find out what caused the color of his hair. After reading the article, I found out that he received more of the blonde genes from his mother and some of the darker genes from his father.

M S

source: http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=39