• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Are Brown Eyes Really More Dominate?

G

Grumpy Cat

Well-Known Member
I learned in school that brown eyes are supposed to be more dominate, but I must say that most people I meet actually have blue or green eyes. So I was wondering if it's true and brown eyes are more dominate here at Aspie Central.

What color of eyes do you have?

I have dark brown and Grumpy Cat has blue and Waldo has green/orange.
 
I'm oversimplifying the genetics for explanation purposes (eye color is dictated by multiple genes and it's not as simple a matter as once thought), but here's why brown eyes are dominant. Brown eyes occur because the allele (one of several alternative forms of the same gene or genetic locus) is dominant. Let's call B the dominant allele for eye color and b the recessive. With a set of alleles from each parent, here are the genetic possibilities which lead to brown eyes:

BBBB
BbBb
BBbb

The fourth possible outcome, bbbb, leads to eye colors like blue. Heterozygous allele pairs, like Bb, mean that the parent is carrying a recessive allele but will have the dominant trait. In this case, the dominant trait is brown eyes.

That being said, the people of your acquaintance represent a very small sample size and have nothing to do with whether brown eyes are genetically dominant.

To answer your question, I have blue eyes. Both my parents have brown eyes, so they both have heterozygous alleles for eye color. My brother has hazel eyes. With my parents' genes, there is a one-in-four chance of their potential offspring having blue eyes.
 
Never heard that one before, although I have people on occasion explain why some have brown eyes though....lol.

(It's a very old and crass joke)
 
Last edited:
My Dad has blue eyes
My Mum has hazel eyes
Sibling one has hazel
I have green
Sibling two has blue
Sibling three has green eyes

I have no idea how all that works.
 
Yeah . . . the genes controlling eye color are more complex than my example. But I provided a basic overview of how inheritance works. :)
 
nurseangela said:
I learned in school that brown eyes are supposed to be more dominate, but I must say that most people I meet actually have blue or green eyes. So I was wondering if it's true and brown eyes are more dominate here at Aspie Central.

What color of eyes do you have?

I have dark brown and Grumpy Cat has blue and Waldo has green/orange.
Click to expand...
The color of the eyes of the people you meet could have to do with the ethnicities of the area where you live. Blue eyes could still be more frequent even if the brown eye gene were more dominant, if there were simply more blue eye genes floating around. As is the case for some ancestries.
Dominant isn't Always Common | QUEST
 
Is it weird that I don't even know what color my eyes are? I mean, I can see them, but as to what color I would call them? No idea! They could be green, or brown, or hazel...honestly, it's impossible for me to tell. I have a lot of trouble with colors, which may or may not be related to my NLD. And, this is what might make me unqualified to even post in this thread (ha!), I never pay attention to the eye colors of others, either. Ever.

I do remember doing those little "squares" (I can't remember precisely what they were called) in middle school science. But, as Stell's link correctly pointed out, "dominant" does not mean "common."
 
wyverary said:
Is it weird that I don't even know what color my eyes are? I mean, I can see them, but as to what color I would call them? No idea! They could be green, or brown, or hazel...honestly, it's impossible for me to tell. I have a lot of trouble with colors, which may or may not be related to my NLD. And, this is what might make me unqualified to even post in this thread (ha!), I never pay attention to the eye colors of others, either. Ever.

I do remember doing those little "squares" (I can't remember precisely what they were called) in middle school science. But, as Stell's link correctly pointed out, "dominant" does not mean "common."
Click to expand...
I knew someone who's eyes changed color depending on the light.
 
Officially, my driver's license says that my eyes are blue, and about two-thirds of people agree.

Most, but not all, of the rest say they are green; there are a handful who think they are gray. (I've never seen that.)
 
I have brown/hazel eyes and so does my dad, although his appear to look more green than brown these days.
My mum and brother both have blue eyes.
 
nurseangela said:
I learned in school that brown eyes are supposed to be more dominate, but I must say that most people I meet actually have blue or green eyes. So I was wondering if it's true and brown eyes are more dominate here at Aspie Central.

What color of eyes do you have?

I have dark brown and Grumpy Cat has blue and Waldo has green/orange.
Click to expand...
Brown here.
 
Judge said:
Never heard that one before, although I have people on occasion explain why some have brown eyes though....lol.

(It's a very old and crass joke)
Click to expand...
i was trying to resist that one judge. Thanks for going there, I needed that. lol
 
Ste11aeres said:
The color of the eyes of the people you meet could have to do with the ethnicities of the area where you live. Blue eyes could still be more frequent even if the brown eye gene were more dominant, if there were simply more blue eye genes floating around. As is the case for some ancestries.
Dominant isn't Always Common | QUEST
Click to expand...
Yes, this exactly. There is one functional pigment that produces brown eyes, although as mentioned minor variations in the coding sequence still result in the same functional product. My understanding is that the other genes involved in eye color dictate how the pigment is metabolized by the body, in other words how much is deposited and where/when throughout development. But anyone that does not have brown eyes does not have the allele for the functional pigment.
By "dominant", the sequence that codes for a functional pigment is meant. This has nothing to do with whether or not selective pressures on the trait are positive or negative. :)

My eyes are brown, and both of my parents are brown-eyed, but each of them has a parent with grey or blue eyes.
 
Easter said:
My eyes are magnolia . Not really.. but , I saw on the internet the other day that a new type of implant can let you have which ever colour you desire.
Pretty weird ... Eye surgery with permanently eye color change / change eye color surgery / change eye colour / change eyes color - BrightOcular
Click to expand...

That is cool, but I wonder what are the long term effects that this has on the eyes? The eyes are a part of the body that you certainly wouldn't want to mess around with. With that said, if it were indeed proven to be safe over the long term, I could see alot of people jumping on this craze.
 
Dark brown eyes give me the rare male mating advantage living in the land where nearly everyone is of German or Scandinavian heritage. Many times in a room with eight or ten people, I am the only one with brown eyes.

Rare male mating advantage occurs when male sexual fitness of the rare male type is favored over the more common variety.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom