Any eye color genetic enthusiasts out there?

[muscovy94]

I've always been curious as to where I get my eye color from. I'm literally the only person in my family with brown eyes. My parents, sister, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc everyone has either blue or bluish green eyes. Here are pics of my parents eyes, my sisters, and then mine. Tell me what you think.
Mom:

Dad:

Sister:

And then mine:

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Awake well before the birds, so thought I'd try to find an answer to your very interesting question. I have always wondered this myself, as my grandparents had light eyes (grandpa's were pale gray-blue, and gramma had light greenish blue with gold-brown around the pupil). My mom had eyes like her father's, but her brother (Uncle Dave) had very unusual light yellow-gold eyes. Your eyes remind me of Uncle Dave's, but his were much lighter, with yellowish centers (similar to your sister's eyes).


So I found what I expected. Eye color is controlled by more than one pair of genes, 3 at the minimum and probably more; they are still researching. Also, as you might have guessed, it's not a simple matter of brown being dominant to blue.


http://www.aclens.com/Most-Common-Eye-Color-c323.html
Important to notice that true double recessive blue or gray (silver) eyes don't have the brown pigment around the pupil. Blue eyes are really a result of the absence of pigment in the front layer in the eye. Both of your parents have the center pigment, which is a clue as to how your eyes look brown.


http://www.eyedoctorguide.com/eye_general/eye_color_genetics.html
The explanation in this link is kind of hard to follow, but according to the video/picture on the right, your eyes are not really the same as brown eyes. You don't have a dominant brown gene, but the green from your mom is dominant. The way it's explained using two possible genes, I think your mom and dad would both be bbGg (recessive brown {which equals blue eyes}, but split for green). You got both recessive alleles for the brown gene bb, no choice, that's all your parents had to give you. For the green gene, you must have got double dominant darker green, G, from each parent. That makes you bbGG, which can result in light brown eyes. This article doesn't really explain how, but there seems to be at least one other gene in play.



http://genetics.thetech.org/how-blue-eyed-parents-can-have-brown-eyed-children
This article talks about 2 different genes for the brown/blue trait. These genes are interdependent, each acting as a switch; you need both genes to "work" in order to get brown eyes. People who have light eyes must have one or both of these genes "broken" (switching off the other gene) since they do not produce outer layer brown pigment. Blue eyed people can carry one gene for brown eyes, but if it is not turned on by the second gene, the pigment is not produced. A brown eyed child can get both working brown genes, in combination, from 2 light eyed parents, even if the genes are not switched on in either parent.

Kind of complicated. In the world of blue eyed parents, it's kind of turned around, where inheriting a dominant brown genes acts more like recessive genes. It's relatively rare to receive the combination required to have brown eyes. There just aren't that many chances for the needed combination within the gene pool of the parents.



https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100616101033AADHBpn
This one has a bit more info. Read the Best Answer. Seems there are also strong and weak modifiers. Brown is dominant to blue, but strong blue is dominant to weak brown. My head is starting to spin! It has been many years since I've had a genetics course. I think this person, who claims a couple of genetics degrees, probably has it right.


So, while your eye color inheritance is very rare, it's not impossible! And your brown is not quite the same as dominant brown. If you have children with a blue-eyed spouse, the chances are good they will all have blue eyes!


Now I just have to figure out how it worked for my son. My eyes are green. My husband is 100% Asian, with the typical medium brown eyes. Double dominant, based on extended family ancestry. One of our boys got eyes like dad's as expected, but the other has eyes even lighter than yours, only with a dark ring at the edge of the iris. How'd that happen? There must be more to the influence of green and hazel genes. Guess I'll need to research some more.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

I've always been curious as to where I get my eye color from. I'm literally the only person in my family with brown eyes. My parents, sister, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc everyone has either blue or bluish green eyes. Here are pics of my parents eyes, my sisters, and then mine. Tell me what you think.
Mom:

Dad:

Sister:

And then mine:

I'm very interested in genes in general, but eye genes and widow's peaks really intrigue me. I also have different eyes from anyone in my family and because of my family, I have realized that the widow's peak gene is apparently very recessive. Everyone else's eyes in my family stay the same color, with no variation, but not mine.