Any geneticists out there? My baby daughter has a widow's peak. Neither myself, my son, or my husband have a widow's peak. In fact, I can't find one person in either of our families that do! I have read that a widow's peak is a dominant gene, and usually doesn't skip generations, rather is passed directly from a parent. But if both parents have straight hairlines, that it's impossible to have children that express the gene for widow's peak.
Anyone out there with kids with a widow's peak, and neither of you or your husband have a widow's peak? Don't get me wrong!- There is nothing wrong with widow's peaks! I just find genetics very interesting and this has peaked my curiosity. Amazing how traits can just pop up out of nowhere!
I believe that widow's peaks come from the maternal grandfather.
I did some googling and found this. It could be a bunch of hooey, but I thought it was an interesting, and short read.
I haven't done any research on how widow's peaks are passed, but genetics can reach back a long way! Even 4 generations! So -when you think about all of those grandparents and great -greats on both of your sides, there's probably a widow's peak somewhere -even if what you read said it didn't skip generations. There are also anomalies. A little girl who used to be in my first son's playgroup had dwarfism, and they were told it was genetic, but NO ONE on either side of the family knows of anyone with dwarfism or ever heard of anyone with dwarfism. You also have to take into account -that especially a long time ago -who we think is our great-grandfather -well -maybe that's not who is really our great-grandfather! One of my paternal great-grandmothers was at least 1/4 African American -if not half. I have her photograph, and you're just not convincing me or some other members of my family otherwise! She supposedly had a lot of "Cherokee" blood in her. Hmmmm -yeah -right. That's quite common, particularly for families who have lived in the South for hundreds of years. So -who knows! It could open up a whole interesting ancestral search for you!
I have a widow's peak or as I prefer to call it a heart shaped head. My parents, siblings, and children do not have a widow's peak. I am unique!
I don't know about the genetics of a widow's peak, but I do know that it is possible for dominant traits to show up in children when neither of their parents and none of their grandparents have them. My ex has brown eyes while his dad has blue, mom has green, and all grandparents had blue.
I have one. None of my siblings or parents do. I guess I am the wierd one out of the bunch! LOL!
I have a widows peak and neither of my kids do.
Neither of my parents do, either.
Traits are very strange, where they crop up!
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my daughter has one and neither I or my husband has one. Although my sister has one.
My sister has one - my mom, dad nor myself have one. I am also left handed, but my sister, mom and dad weren't, either! But, my husband and I are left handed, but our daughter is right handed. Just flukes of genes!
I cant offer genetic expertise but i can tell you about my daughter. She was born with a very high widows peak and it is only now recently filling in with very light blonde hair, shes 8! It looks as though my second daughter has the same thing.
it's the recessive genes that throw you for a loop!
It is not possible for two parents with straight hairlines to have a child with a widow’s peak. I made my fiance get genetic testing on his kids for this exact reason, as two of the kids had prominent peaks and he and his ex both had straight hairlines. The two kids weren’t his. It is a case of infidelity or in case of invitro or other lab assisted pregnancy a mistake in processing.
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It is not possible for two parents with straight hairlines to have a child with a widow’s peak. I made my fiance get genetic testing on his kids for this exact reason, as two of the kids had prominent peaks and he and his ex both had straight hairlines. The two kids weren’t his. It is a case of infidelity or in case of invitro or other lab assisted pregnancy a mistake in processing.
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Could 2 people with a widows peak have a child with a straight hairline and could 2 people with a straight hairline have a child with a widows peak EXPLAIN?
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Answer by Mpw04 CONFIDENCE VOTES 10
Yes to the first one, no to the second one. Firstly, widow’s peak is caused by a dominant gene while a straight hairline is caused by a recessive gene. Let ‘H’ be dominant and ‘h’ be recessive. So for a dominant gene, the trait still will be expressed whether the genotype of the person is homozygous dominant(HH) or heterozygous(Hh). For a recessive gene however, the trait will only be expressed when the genotype of the person is homozygous recessive (hh). So two people with a widow’s peak CAN have a child with a stright hairline, provided both of their genotypes are Hh. This is because by crossing their genotypes, they can have a possibility of having child with the genotype HH(widow’s peak), Hh(widow’s peak), and also hh(straight hairline). The ratio of these three possibilities however, are 1:2:1. So the odds of having a child with a straight hairline in this case is 1:3. If the two people who have widow’s peak have the genotype HH or one of them HH and the other Hh, then the possibility of having a child with a straight hairline is 0. This is because by crossing their genotypes together, the genotype of the child will either be HH for the first case, and HH or Hh for the second case. For two people who have a straight hairline, the genotype of both will definitely be homozygous recessive (hh), thus child will definitely have the recessive gene. Therefore, it is not possible for two people with straight hairline to have a child with widow’s peak.