SAY ONE PARENT IS 100% ITALIAN AND THE OTHER IS 100% IRISH, AND THEY HAVE TWO CHILDREN. CHILD 'A' LOOKS MORE "ITALIAN' THAN THE CHILD 'B', DOES THAT MEAN THAT CHILD 'A' HAS MORE ITALIAN GENES THAN CHILD 'B' , OR IS THAT JUST THE VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS THEY HAPPEN TO INHERIT? BASICALLY, IS CHILD 'A' MORE ITALIAN THAN IRISH?
2007-01-09 10:31:41 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Since your question was "basically..." ethnicity is not an inherited trait. Ethnicity has biological elements but is much better described as a sociological phenomena. You can be 6.25% Italian and still act 100% Italian because it is the culture you are raised in. The genetic make up of European are pretty heterogeneous. If you are interested look at the genographic project: https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html and you will get an idea of how unimportant genetics can be and how interrelated we all really are. There are not sufficient genes to differentiate Poles from Slovacs and France has several different "ethnicites". Cool stuff.
2007-01-09 14:54:26 · answer #1 · answered by bill h 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, it doesnt mean that one if more italian than the other. it just means that one of u inheritted the dominant alleles for italian looks and maybe the other didn't or the other's didn't show up. Every child gets 50% of each parents genes. They just may show up differently
2007-01-09 10:36:29 · answer #2 · answered by skateKad47 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Genes do not pass information exactly 50/50. And just because some traits may be more pronounced doesn't necassarily mean they inherited more genes from either parent.
2007-01-09 10:38:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
they're both the same because each parent only contributes half the genetic info (haploid + haploid = diploid). How the child looks depends on their alleles. Child A's "Italian side" might be dominant and his/her "Irish side" is recessive.
2007-01-09 10:45:56 · answer #4 · answered by giselle 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO they are the same. they are both 50% Irish and Italian,.
2007-01-09 10:35:07 · answer #5 · answered by Gaby 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
More traits may be passed on from one parent than the other, however I beleive for all legal issues the offspring is considered 1/2 of each.
2007-01-09 10:36:12 · answer #6 · answered by digitalwrangler 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
All children will be 50 percent down the middle genetically, no matter what they look like.
2007-01-09 10:37:59 · answer #7 · answered by dinotheorist 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are the same .Some genes can be recessive...but appearance does not dictate your nationality !
2007-01-09 10:37:57 · answer #8 · answered by HAPA CHIC 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋