Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 7/16/2007

Question
Hello Dana, my name is German Cortes I'm a proud parent to be, i want to know if there is any way to find out what kinda of traits will my baby inherit from its father or its mother, I'm Hispanic(Mexican) and the mother is African-American. I have Dark Brown eyes and Black hair an she has Slightly Lighter Brown eyes and Brown Hair is there any way to know exactly how the baby will look? Thank you

Answer
Dear German,

Most human traits are controlled by several different genes, and the more genes involved, the more difficult it is to predict what a baby will inherit.  In general, dark hair and dark eyes are dominant to light hair and light eyes.  But since both traits are controlled by several genes, it's difficult to predict what the baby will inherit without knowing more about the grandparents, great grandparents, and so on.

African-American type curly hair is dominant to straight hair, so it's likely that the baby will at least have at least some of the African-type hair.  But as far as the other traits, it will depend on which dominant and recessive genes the baby gets from each parent.  Think of it this way:  even if a set of parents has 20 children, each one looks unique.  It's really impossible to predict exactly how any one of them is going to look overall.  You have to consider one trait at a time, and also know a lot about the appearance (with respect to that trait) of the ancestors.

Whatever the baby inherits, though, I hope s/he is lovely!

:)

Dana