If a blue eyed mother, bb, and a blue-eyed father, bb, had children, what percentage of their offspring would have brown eyes?
None of them, I think. If I remember correctly, the blue-eye gene is recessive, so both parents are homozygous for blue eyes and neither of them could pass on a gene other than the blue-eyed one. But, I may be wrong.
You're welcome. Two brown-eyed parents, however, could have a blue-eyed child, provided each parent is heterozygous for brown eyes (Bb) and each one passes on the recessive (b) gene to the offspring.
THANK YOU
To determine the percentage of their offspring that would have brown eyes, we need to understand the inheritance patterns of eye color. Eye color is generally determined by multiple genes, but for simplicity, let's consider the two main genes involved in eye color - namely, the OCA2 and HERC2 genes.
The OCA2 gene controls the production of melanin, the pigment responsible for eye color. It has two variants: a dominant allele (designated B), which produces brown eye color, and a recessive allele (designated b), which produces blue eye color. The HERC2 gene plays a role in regulating the OCA2 gene.
In this scenario, both parents have blue eyes (genotype: bb), so they only carry the recessive allele for blue eye color. Since brown eye color is dominant, a person needs at least one copy of the dominant allele to have brown eyes.
When the parents with a genotype of bb have children, they can only pass on the recessive blue allele (b) to their offspring, as they do not possess the dominant brown allele (B). Therefore, all their children will inherit one copy of the recessive allele for blue eyes (b) from each parent.
So, in this case, none of their offspring would have brown eyes, as both parents lack the dominant brown allele (B). The percentage of their offspring with brown eyes would be 0%.
It's important to note that this explanation assumes that additional genes or factors that may influence eye color are not considered. Eye color inheritance can be more complex due to the interaction of various genes. This explanation provides a simplistic view based on the given information.