Question

What key elements have the biggest impact in human eye color and does modern biology give any tools to define the color of the future child’s eyes based on his or her parents’ eyes? Is it only genetics that stands behind eye color? Please use an in-depth investigative response. 1200 words. Thank you!

Answer 1

Eye colour is a phenotypic trait which is polygenic in nature. It is estimated that the eye colour is influenced by a set of 16 genes. The factors that determine the eye colour of any individual are : the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency dependence of the scattering of light by the stromal media of the iris. Iris colour is not only influenced simply by the melanin content in the eye but because of melanin in the iris epithelium, melanin in the iris stroma and cellular density of the iris. OCA2 and HERC2 are the two major contributing genes which determine the eye colour located in chromosome no. 15.

The eye colour of a fetus can be determined for a given set of parents by using various latest set of tests. Some tests include the use of a latest blood test which includes analysis of the chromosomal products responsible for eye colour. The genetic analysis can increase the percentage of chances that the desired eye colour will develop in the fetus but the determination is not 100% true and correct.