Parents pass on traits or characteristics, such as eye colour and blood type, to their children through their genes. Some health conditions and diseases can be passed on genetically too. Sometimes, one characteristic has many different forms. For example, blood type can be A, B, AB or O.
Fathers have both X and Y chromosomes. So they contribute one Y or one X chromosome to their offspring. Daughters get two X chromosomes, one from Mother and one from Father. So Daughter will inherit X-linked genes from her father as well as her mother.
Personality Traits
For example, if the father is an independent thinker or risk-taker, it's likely his daughter will have some of those same qualities. Other personality traits such as intelligence, empathy, creativity, and leadership skills can also be inherited from the father.
Virtues such as honesty, integrity and tolerance are most likely to come from mothers while courage, laziness and a good sense of direction come from fathers, a study found.
One popular myth is that hair loss in men is passed down from the mother's side of the family while hair loss in women is passed down from the father's side; however, the truth is that the genes for hair loss and hair loss itself are actually passed down from both sides of the family.
Most people feel as though they look more like their biological mom or biological dad. They may even think they act more like one than the other. And while it is true that you get half of your genes from each parent, the genes from your father are more dominant, especially when it comes to your health.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no scientific evidence that suggests all firstborn daughters necessarily resemble their fathers.
Our mitochondrial DNA accounts for a small portion of our total DNA. It contains just 37 of the 20,000 to 25,000 protein-coding genes in our body. But it is notably distinct from DNA in the nucleus. Unlike nuclear DNA, which comes from both parents, mitochondrial DNA comes only from the mother.
Contrary to your impression, at birth, girls look more like their mom than their dad. It is only from the age of one year that they would start to resemble their dad. There are several hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. The first would be related to evolution.
Genetically, you actually carry more of your mother's genes than your father's. That's because of little organelles that live within your cells, the mitochondria, which you only receive from your mother.
Your children inherit their eye colors from you and your partner. It's a combination of mom and dad's eye colors – generally, the color is determined by this mix and whether the genes are dominant or recessive. Every child carries two copies of every gene – one comes from mom, and the other comes from dad.
Genetically, a person actually carries more of his/her mother's genes than his/her father's. The reason is little organelles that live within cells, the? mitochondria, which are only received from a mother. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and is inherited from the mother.
Scientists estimate that 20 to 60 percent of temperament is determined by genetics. Temperament, however, does not have a clear pattern of inheritance and there are not specific genes that confer specific temperamental traits.
“Firstborn children can be goal-oriented, outspoken, stubborn, independent, and perfectionistic,” Smelser says, and when you look at the way firstborns are nurtured, it starts to make sense why. “These traits are often reinforced by parents through their interactions with the child,” she says.
By Yang Hu, Lancaster University. Have you heard of "eldest daughter syndrome"? It's the emotional burden eldest daughters tend to take on (and are encouraged to take on) in many families from a young age.
There's an old theory that says first-born babies were genetically predispositioned to look more like their father. It was believed this was so the father accepted the child was his and would provide and care for them.
Like most aspects of human behavior and cognition, intelligence is a complex trait that is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.
And these genetic influences don't only come from the maternal side: "Your breast characteristics can come from both sides of your family, so genes from your dad's side can affect what your breasts end up looking like too," adds Dr. Minkin.
Despite being a unique combination of your parent's genes and new mutations, you are, on average, equally genetically close to both your parents and siblings.
Hair color is determined by the amount of a pigment called melanin in hair. An abundance of one type of melanin, called eumelanin, gives people black or brown hair. An abundance of another pigment, called pheomelanin, gives people red hair.
Curly hair is dominant, so someone is more likely to have curly or wavy hair if at least one of their parents does. Recent research points to trichohyalin, a protein in hair follicles, as having primary influence over hair curl. However, there are many genes contributing to hair curliness, most of them unknown.
Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of an individual's height is determined by the DNA sequence variations they have inherited, but which genes these changes are in and what they do to affect height are only partially understood.