Black Parents, white child: Polygenic Inheritance

Mrs.Lucysnow

Valued Senior Member
Check this out: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3060907/Black-parents-give-birth-to-white-baby.html

Genetic experts are puzzled at a genetic mutation that produced a white, straight blond haired baby girl with blue eyes and no she isn't an albino. Both parents are from Africa (Nigeria) with no known white ancestry on either side of the family.

I have heard of this happening to white parents such as the case of Sandra Laing in South Africa. Sandra and her brother both looked mulatto but were born of white parents. Never though have I heard of a black couple producing a white child, meaning a child with full caucasian traits.

So what the hell happened? Obviously if there is very little race mixing in Nigeria and neither parents can recall having any white ancestry the gene must go way back in the family. How can it show up generations later with such intensity?

Look at the pictures and video, its really quite freakish!
 
The white buffalo legend of the Native peoples in America . Very interesting .
Maybe babies was switched by a nurse ?
 
And what no one would notice the colour of the child at birth? Think again. In a case like this everything including DNA testing would have been done to rule out extra-marital affairs, baby mix up and albinism
 
Which reminds me, if this child grows up and marries a black Nigerian for example would her children be black as the rest of her relatives? Or if she married a white man would her children be mulatto? And what is her racial classification? Is she technically caucasian or African- black?
 
DNA testing is the first thing they would do to make sure the father is the father. Its obvious the mother is the mother because the child was delivered and white at birth. Or is it that you think a white family would have a baby and forget that it was missing or accept a black child in its stead? Think about it a little. Its obviously a case of polygenic inheritance but I've never heard of a case where the child had complete traits either caucasian or otherwise. What doesn't make sense is how there can be this recessive gene when neither parents have whites in their family history and come from a group not known for racial mixing. And the hair! Did you take a look at the hair? Its not just blond but completely straight.
 

True. There are many African cultures that openly discriminate against albino's or even kill them for some superstitious witch-craft nonsense they practice. The doctors claim that this child however is not an albino, so my question is but simply 'white' due to polygenic inheritance. I'm thinking that under apartheid that the child would have had to be considered black because the parents are black but I could be wrong.

What I don't understand how a recessive gene can come out so strongly, enough so the child would have full caucasian characteristics, if their isn't a large percentage on race mixing within this family gene pool. From what I understand polygenic inheritance would need white genes in both parents and even then the off-spring don't have full characteristics. Perhaps someone who understands genetics can answer the question for me. Also because racial purity is rare I'm curious as to why these genes suddenly pop up, why they don't present themselves more often.
 
The article states three or four times that the child is not albino, yet no indication of how this conclusion was arrived at was made. Frankly, given the quality of science/medical reporting that is likely to be found in the trashy tabloid rag that is ‘The Sun’, I don’t think we should accept that for a moment.

Albinism is not an all-or-nothing scenario. When the word ‘albino’ is mentioned I imagine most people think of pasty white people with white hair and pink eyes. But that is merely the extreme. Albinism exists as a spectrum. There are several key genes (at least) that are involved in pigment production, and a mutation in any of them that alters the functioning of the gene (as opposed to completely stops is functioning) might produce a partial albino phenotype that is hard to distinguish from a ‘natural’ fair-skinned Caucasian person.

There is no need to invoke complex multigenic scenarios involving hitherto mysterious unknown Caucasian ancestors. If we are to apply Ockham’s Razor, by far the simplest plausible explanation is a hypomorphic mutation in a melanin-related gene.
 
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Mod note: Seeing as this thread has been moved to B&G, I’m going to have to enforce my usual reasonably strict requirement for scientific discussion. Hence, a number of off-topic posts (and that’s being generous) have been removed.
 
The article states three or four times that the child is not albino, yet no indication of how this conclusion was arrived at was made. Frankly, given the quality of science/medical reporting that is likely to be found in the trashy tabloid rag that is ‘The Sun’, I don’t think we should accept that for a moment.

Albinism is not an all-or-nothing scenario. When the word ‘albino’ is mentioned I imagine most people think of pasty white people with white hair and pink eyes. But that is merely the extreme. Albinism exists as a spectrum. There are several key genes (at least) that are involved in pigment production, and a mutation in any of them that alters the functioning of the gene (as opposed to completely stops is functioning) might produce a partial albino phenotype that is hard to distinguish from a ‘natural’ fair-skinned Caucasian person.

There is no need to invoke complex multigenic scenarios involving hitherto mysterious unknown Caucasian ancestors. If we are to apply Ockham’s Razor, by far the simplest plausible explanation is a hypomorphic mutation in a melanin-related gene.

But wouldn't an albino child have kinky hair like its parents? This child has bone straight blond hair.
 
@Hercules

I understand your concerns over the Sun so I have a BBC article on the subject:


"A white baby girl with a mop of blonde hair and blue eyes has been born to black parents living in London. How is this possible?

While there have been several cases of different coloured twins born to parents with mixed-race ancestry in recent years, Ben and Angela Ihegboro, who are originally from Nigeria, say they have no such origins which could explain the phenomenon that is their new daughter Nmachi.

In the case of Nmachi, there are three possible explanations of why she looks so very different from her older brother and sister, who are both black: dormant white genes which entered both of her parents' families long ago, a genetic mutation unique to her, or albinism.

Contrary to reports, doctors at the London hospital where Nmachi was born say they have not ruled out this recessive disorder which affects skin pigmentation.

Like many human traits, a person's colour is influenced by about 12 different genes, which together control the amount of pigment - or melanin - produced in the skin.

It is in principle at least possible that both parents carried light skin gene variants, inherited from unknown white ancestors on either side, which in their cases were masked by dark skin gene variants.

We are all of us genetic mixtures to some extent and occasionally you'll have a convergence of the pale versions of these genes in African Americans and African Carribbeans who have a mixed black and white ancestry”

In this way, white parents can also produce a black child, as in the recently filmed biopic of Sandra Laing, the black baby born to Afrikaner parents at the height of apartheid in the mid-1950s.

In Europeans, it is possible - if highly unusual - that African DNA from those who were brought to the continent as Roman slaves joins in two fair parents to produce a dark-skinned child.

Under this theory, when Nmachi was conceived, she inherited both light skin genes which together give her this very fair appearance.

"We are all of us genetic mixtures to some extent and occasionally you'll have a convergence of the pale versions of these genes in African Americans and African Carribbeans who have a mixed black and white ancestry," says Bryan Sykes, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford.

"But that doesn't seem to be the case here. The parents are Nigerians with little known white ancestry at all."

What is more likely, he says, is a genetic mutation within the little girl herself which she will then pass on to her children if she has any in the future.

But other experts point the finger firmly at albinism, a genetic disorder which in its most extreme form results in a complete lack of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes.

It ranges in severity from Type 1 to 4, with overall about one in 20,000 people born worldwide with some form of the condition.

Both parents could be carrying a copy of the albino gene without it having surfaced in any known family member for many years.

"This is perhaps one of the most common recessive disorders in Nigeria, and we have to remember that it comes in different forms," says Professor Ian Jackson of Human Genetics Unit at the Medical Research Council.

"In Type 2 we would see creamy skin and yellow hair or light brown, which in some cases would darken with age."

The principal health risks of albinism are problems with vision - ranging from the mild to the severe - and sun damage to the skin due to the lack of melanin, which protects against ultraviolet rays.

This is the key problem for those with the disorder in the scorching heat of Africa, potentially less so for a baby born in London - but care will still need to be taken with sunblock and hats.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10697682



They don't say what tests were conducted but wouldn't they do a standard DNA test? Are there tests for albinism?
 
Same thing happened in a tribe of indians. The chief approached the one white man living among them thinking he might be involved.

The man explained to the chief that it might just be nature, and then referred to a black sheep among all the white sheep, and pointed towards it.

he chief said, "Okay I no tell, if you no tell!"
 
I understand your concerns over the Sun so I have a BBC article on the subject:

Oh, sorry. I forgot all about replying to this thread. :eek:

Thanks for the BBC article. I feel more comfortable with the journalism quality of the Beeb. ;)

I was pleased to see that it pretty much agreed with what I said....

BBC: What is more likely, he says, is a genetic mutation within the little girl herself which she will then pass on to her children if she has any in the future.

Yep, that’s what I said. A de novo mutation in the girl seems to be the best explanation.


BBC: But other experts point the finger firmly at albinism, a genetic disorder which in its most extreme form results in a complete lack of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes.

Hmmm, maybe. But then we’re invoking a situation where just the right genetic contributions from both parents are required. The above is still the simplest explanation. And, of course, this child clearly does not have a complete lack of pigmentation.


They don't say what tests were conducted but wouldn't they do a standard DNA test? Are there tests for albinism?

I don’t know if there is a standard genetic test for albinism. As has been said, there are at least several genes in which a mutation might produce a degree of albinism. Do you test them all? That might become quite expensive. You can design a genetic test for a mutation in any known gene, but screening for mutations is potentially more difficult than an ordinary parentage test which merely looks for microsatellite differences/similarities.
 
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@Hercules

I understand your concerns over the Sun so I have a BBC article on the subject:

Oh, sorry. I forgot all about replying to this thread. :eek:

Thanks for the BBC article. I feel more comfortable with the journalism quality of the Beeb. ;)

I was pleased to see that it pretty much agreed with what I said....


science has aesthetic concerns?
sykes was cited by the bbc as well as the sun
 
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