2008 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2008. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

394
What's the deal with the traits for eyes? Why are my eyes a mix of brown and blue, and why do they have specks of different colors, like green and dark brown?
     Pnina Laric, M.S.: Coordinates the summer and post-baccalaureate internship and training programs at NHGRI. While brown eyes are the dominant eye color, sometimes we have different color eyes, like green or blue, and sometimes we even have a mix of different colors within the same eye, like brown eyes speckled with green. Often genetics involve a mix of multiple things taking place behind the scenes to generate the phenotype we actually see.
Atholton High School in MD (11th grade student)

< View ALL questions and answers from 2008



(short, single keywords work best at first)