How did I get this O minus blood type?

Question

Well, I'm Korean, and my parents say I have to be VERY becareful because once I loose my blood, I will never regain them back with my own heart. This really freaked me out cause... I don't want to die or anything... (BTW is this true?)

In Korea, it was very rare to get a O- blood type. (about 30 people have them in the whole Korean population - 40 million)

Both my parents are plus O type, and neither my grandparents have O- bloods nor my great grand parents... So how'd I get this O minus blood type, which is so rare for my nationality?

Answer 1

Firstly, the idea that your blood will never regenerate is false; blood cells have a life span of thirty (30) days, meaning that your body is constantly regenerating blood anyway. However, if an individual loses a large amount of blood very rapidly, it is crucial that he or she obtain blood from a donor, because blood cannot be regenerated quickly enough to compensate for a large loss.

Secondly, it is not common to get an O- blood type anywhere, as it is a recessive genotype to all the other blood types.

If your parents are both type O, then you are most definitely type O. As for being O- as opposed to O+, it is very rare among families comprising mostly of O+ individuals. (On the other hand, families with O- always have children with O- until another family member with another blood type joins the family). However, it is possible if and only if a pair in your preceding family (i.e. great grandparents) were carriers of the O- blood type - this is likely, because you ended up with O- blood type. There are a much greater handful of O+ individuals who bear O- genes than is apparent, but it's certainly possible; therefore, they are able to pass on those O- genes to their offspring.

Answer 2

As far as the first question goes, the answer is no. If you lose blood, your body will replace it over time. New red blood cells are made in the bone marrow continuously.
As far as blood type goes, if you're parents are O+, then you could only be O+ yourself. In the ABO blood group system, there are 3 different versions of the blood type gene; there's the A allele (type), and the B allele, and the O allele. The A allele codes for an A protein, the B allele codes for a B protein on blood cells. The A and B alleles are both dominant. Whenever you inherit one, the trait will be expressed, and you'll have that protein. If you inherit an A allele from one parent, and a B allele from the other, you will have both proteins, and have type AB blood. It's possible to inherit a third allele, the O allele. It doesn' t code for any proteins, so if you inherit this, no proteins appear on your blood cells. The O allele is recessive, produces no protein. So people with type A blood can either be AA or Ao, people with type B blood can have BB alleles, or Bo alleles, finally, people with two O alleles have no proteins on their red blood cells for the ABO blood group, and have type O blood. Both your parents must have inherited one O allele from each of their parents, even though their parents had different blood types. Your grandparents must have had A and/or B blood types, (Ao or Bo). There is nothing wrong with being type O+, most of the world is. But it does mean that if you, (or your parents), ever need a blood transfusion, you can only receive type O blood, Any other type would cause a life-threatening transfusion reaction. Maybe that's what your parents were talking about in the first part of your question.

Answer 3

If you lose blood you can get a transfusion. So no worry about running out of blood as long as you can get a transfusion.

As for a simplified explanation on how you got the O- blood:
The - is a recessive trait. So if you have a - and a + you will show up as having the + blood type. If you have a + and a + you will show up as having the + blood type. But if you have a - and a - you will show up having a - blood type.

So your parents both have a + and a -. You inherited a - from both parents and no +'s. So your blood type is -.

The badly drawn graphic below is supposed to be a Punnett Square which shows the different combinations that you could have been given your parents blood types (both +-). The possible combinations are ++, +-, +-, and --.
You ended up being the bottom right blood type (--).
Parents blood types are the top row and the first column. The other 4 are possible blood types that you could have been.

.......+.....-
+....++...+-
-.....+-.....--

(periods are for formatting purposes only)

For more (and more coherent) information check out Punnett Squares (Which is what the above is supposed to be. here is an OK example site:http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/CURR/Science/sciber00/7th/genetics/sciber/punnett.htm


And check out Mendelian genetics.

Answer 4

Your body replenishes its blood supply just as readily as any other. Don't worry about that. However, you do have a very rare type, and you can only receive type O- blood. It is very important that you donate blood regularly, since you are what is called a "universal donor", meaning that anyone can receive your blood.
Blood type is normally inherited (which is why it is so rare in Korea), but on rare occasions, it can change before or shortly after birth, due to reactions to various antigens.
Practically speaking, you do have to be very careful because you can only receive type O- blood, which is very rare. Before surgery, you should probably make an autologous donation, which means storing your own blood.
"Plasma volumes will return to normal in around 24 hours, while red blood cells are replaced by bone marrow into the circulatory system within about 3-5 weeks, and lost iron replaced over 6-8 weeks."
Your blood can be stored for up to 10 years. Talk to a doctor about storing your own blood in case you get into an accident. This way you can be sure of having some units of O- blood.

Answer 5

have a read of the link below. Your parents and grandparents may have had the recessive gene, and when they are put together it means you get that gene in its active form. You should be thankful for your blood type, I am O- myself, people with this blood type can donate to anyone in the world. It does come with its problems however, because you can only receive O- blood in a transplant, and if it is rare, then it may be hard to find a donor. I think your parents are scaremongering you a bit.

Answer 6

You can receive blood from other 0 negative persons. It is very rare in your country (0.1% of the population!) But that doesn't mean anything other than it is rare.

If you loose blood, you can get it back again...

The negative genotype can be recessive, which would explain why your parents and grandparents were not negative themselves, but they did carry the gene.

You got your O blood type from your parents and the negative from your ancestors, you could say.

Answer 7

First of all, blood type is determined by the types your parents have. There are only 8 combinations and the types your parents have determines yours. O negative is a very common blood type and can be replaced easily - very easily - if you ever need a transfusion. Incidentally, O negative is the "universal donor" type - if you donate blood it is the most useful kind because anyone can use it, so donate as often as you can!

Answer 8

Go to this site and click on this on the left hand side of the page.

Blood type & Rh factor calculator


From what I read as long as both parents are O then the child can be positive or negative. Pretty cool site.


http://www.biology.arizona.edu/human_bio/problem_sets/blood_types/rh_factor.html


.

Answer 9

o blood group and rhesus negative are two differnt things. you are, what we would say a uviversal donor! see o blood goup refers that you posess neither antigen a or b. hence you are group O. but then rh +ve or negative is decided by another set of genes. since your dad and your mom gave you half of each of their set, so it is likely that you received rh -ve allele from each of them , rh -ve is a recessive trait, hence even if it was present in your parents, it will not express itself!

hence you are o-ve. by the way it would not be a bad idea for you to wear a medicaid bracelet or a chain that would give the doctors a headstart by identifying you as O-ve person!

Answer 10

Both of your parents might be have co-dominance for O or you can have the bombay phenotype.