How do you get green eyes?

Question

I've learned in school about genetics and eye color with dominant and recessive genes, but the examples were always with brown and blue eyes.
So how does one get green eyes, or grey or violet for that matter? Are green eyes in terms of genetics the same as blue?

Answer 1

I believe that green eyes are recessive, just like blue eyes. That means that if one parent has brown eyes and one has green eyes, you will have green eyes only if your brown-eyed parent has one recessive green-eye gene.

However, I do NOT know what would happen if you have one parent with green eyes and one with blue. Recessive must have some hierarchy, and since there are more blue than green eyes out there, I'm betting green is "more recessive" than blue.

Answer 2

How To Get Green Eyes

Answer 3

Are Green Eyes Recessive

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How do you get green eyes?
I've learned in school about genetics and eye color with dominant and recessive genes, but the examples were always with brown and blue eyes.
So how does one get green eyes, or grey or violet for that matter? Are green eyes in terms of genetics the same as blue?

Answer 5

I've read this thread and have a specific question. Both my husband and I have blue eyes. MY mother, her five siblings, my maternal grandmother and maternal grandfather all have blue eyes. My father has blue eyes.

My husband's parents and three siblings all have blue eyes.

I have five children. Four of them have various shades of blue eyes but ONE (my brown haired daughter) has green eyes. At first we thought they were blue, then grey, but as she got older, they seemed to fluctuate with green too. When she was 16 yr and getting her license, we actually asked the eye dr. what color eyes she had. He said GREEN.

So, HOW does someone get GREEN eyes when sooooo much of the family/ancestry has BLUE eyes?

Answer 6

Blue eyes are in fact a lack of Iris pigmentation. Green eyes involves a genetic cross-genetic of a weakened "brown" eye" gene.Possibly a mix of brown and blue. Same with other colors.

Answer 7

Well, from my understanding all colors aside from brown and blue eyes are shades of the brown and blue which explains why they don't use green as an example in biology. This website explains it in much more detail than I can even attempt on here. Check it out!

http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=29

Answer 8

Green eyes are a recessive gene. To have green eyes, both parents would need to have at least one recessive green gene each and you would have to have inherited both recessive genes to get green eyes.

Mine are green, however my brother and sister both have blue eyes.

Answer 9

Yes. Green eyes are in terms of genetics the same as blue.

Answer 10

To keep it simple:
Green eyes are a mutation of the recessive "blue eye" gene.
Grey and violet eyes are pigmentation's of blue similar to how hazel and black are pigmentation's of brown.

Slightly more in depth:
In humans three genes involved in eye colour are known. They explain typical patterns of inheritance of brown, green, and blue eye colours. However, they don't explain everything. Grey eye colour, Hazel eye colour, and multiple shades of blue, brown, green, and grey are not explained.

Full in depth:
The genes for eye colour are polygenic (more than 1 dominate and 1 recessive)
The genes are mixed genes, they are:
Green/blue eye colour gene
Brown eye colour gene
Brown/blue eye colour gene
All these genes are located on chromosome 15

In order to get green you need 1 set of the green/blue, and at least a blue-blue. Green is a dominate version of a recessive set of genes.