Blood Types Problem Set
Problem 6: Do we all have the same biological father?
Correct!
We were surfing the net for
information on how to confirm blood types inherited from our parents.
Your home page offered a lot of good, basic information, but since we
are non-bio-science types, our understanding is dated back to high
school. Could you offer a reference that would be helpful to figure out
blood typing. We understand that a ABO matrix is part of it, and we
expect it to be technically over our heads - but we're willing to try.
Our basic question is: What is the blood type consistency of two parents
who are O+ who have 8 children? 2 of 8 are reported to be O+ and O-.
Does that seem to be likely?? --John
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A.
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Likely
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B.
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Unlikely
Dr. Hallick's reply:
The parents are either O+/O+ or O+/O-. (We really can't distinguish).
There are three possible crosses:
1. O+/O+ x O+/O- ====> All children are O+
2. O+/O+ x O+/O+ ====> All children are O+
3. O+/O- x O+/O- ====> Children could be either O+ or O-
It is very unlikely that the writer would be able to determine whether his
parents are O+/O+ or O+/O-. The best answer to this question would be that,
given no additional information, the children could be either O+ or O-.
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University of Arizona
Thursday, October 23, 1997
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