Gene inheritance is a complicated matter. It is known that at the moment of conception, a decision is made about many of the child's characteristics. Genes decide what color of eyes or hair curls your little one will have, whether he will be confident, cheerful and cheerful, or rather sad and shy. We inherit from our ancestors not only a house with a garden, but also temperament, personality and appearance.
The combination of an egg and a sperm creates an infinite number of possible combinations ofgenes . And it depends on them what qualities and talents your child will inherit from you. This is unusual, because if the child was conceived tomorrow, in a month or a year, a child of a different sex, with a different appearance, skills and temperament could be born.Inheritanceis a bit like… a lottery game. The difference is that each child will get a six!
The secret of inheritance
A woman's egg contains half of the genetic information of a child, and the sperm contains the other half. As a result of the rapture of love, they merge and a new life is created: a complete "database" about the appearance, character and talents of the child. It is already known whether a boy or a girl will be born in 9 months. The baby in the tummy has half of mom's and half of dad's genes. Theoretically, it should be 50 percent. similar to mom and in 50 percent. to Dad. And we know from our own observations that this does not actually happen, because each of us looks more like one of our parents or further ancestors. Why is this happening? Because the parents of the child have their genes from their parents, and they got them from their parents, and those in turn from their parents … Certain features written in the genes can wander through the generations without revealing themselves. But for a time. They finally make themselves felt. So don't be surprised when it turns out that your baby has the same shape of ears as grandfather Antek or grandmother Zosia's hands.
ImportantStronger genes:hazel eyes, large eyes, long eyelashes, dark hair.
Weaker genes:blue eyes, small eyes, short eyelashes, blonde hair.
Gene pairs inherited from parents
Information about what the baby will look like is stored in pairs of genes, and each gene in the pair comes from one of theparents. For example, the gene for blue eyes was passed on to the child by mom, and the gene for hazel eyes was passed on by dad. What color of eyes will the baby have? It depends on the strength of the disclosure of information stored in genes. There are features that are dominant, i.e. stronger, and weaker, i.e. recessive. If the weaker gene, in this case responsible for blue eyes, pairs with the stronger gene, the beer-eye gene, the baby will have dark eyes. Simply put, the dominant gene will not allow the weaker, recessive gene to emerge.
Gene inheritance is a complicated matter
But not always parents, one of whom has blue eyes and the other dark, are born babies with dark eyes. Not only that, it also happens that dark-eyed parents have a blue-eyed son or daughter. How it's possible? It's just that both parents must have had ancestors with blue eyes. The weaker gene responsible for revealing blue eyes was passed down from generation to generation, and both parents paired with one weaker gene and one dominant gene. That is why they revealed only the stronger ones, that is, they have dark eyes. Each of them, on the other hand, passed on to the child a weaker gene responsible for the disclosure of blue eyes. The probability of dark-eyed parents giving birth to a blue-eyed baby is 1 in 4, but only if they both have one dominant and one recessive gene. Because it is enough for one of them to have both dominant genes and all of their children will be dark-eyed.
The influence of genes on our appearance
In a similar way, we inherit the shape of the nose, the color and curl of the hair, the appearance of the eyelashes. But not all features of appearance are inherited in such an uncomplicated way. The final "version" of many of them is influenced not by one, but many pairs of genes and their interdependencies. In the case of some features of appearance, abilities, and character, the matter is sometimes even more difficult, because the environment surrounding the child also matters. For example, a toddler who inherits a tendency to gain weight may be slim if the parents take care of the right amount of exercise and do not shove something to eat at every step. It is the same with height: high growth programmed by genes can be weakened by, for example, a poor, monotonous diet, lack of fresh air, but also "boosted" by a he althy lifestyle. We still know very little about many factors that modify genetic heritage. Perhaps hugging a child and sufficiently long sleep have an impact on the intelligence or growth of the child?
Inheriting talents and talents
If the parents are artistically gifted, their child is likely to inherit fromtheir talent. But only probably, because many genes are responsible for such traits - and tens of thousands are responsible for the development of the nervous system. Therefore, it is difficult to predict whether a child born in an artist's family will have a scientific mind. Scientists have been looking for the intelligence gene for years and are studying the importance of the environment in this matter. Identical twins raised after adoption in different families were studied. It turned out that only half of the genetic factors influenced the level of intelligence. The adoptive family, the conditions in which the children grew up, and the opportunities for educating their talents had an equally large influence. Intelligence is the result of the influence of many genes and their interaction. But the care for the individual development of the baby is also of great importance.
Inheriting the gene responsible for well-being
Some people are happy from birth because … they got a gene that influences the production of the right amount of dopamine by the brain - a substance responsible for well-being. Others, not so generously endowed by nature, are a bit uphill. Maybe that's why your little one was born cheerful, and your friend's son is a whim? Fortunately, mum's love does not depend on whether the baby has green or blue eyes, blonde or red hair, an upturned or straight nose. It is simply boundless and independent of genes.
"M jak mama" monthly