If magic is inheritable, which wizards breeding wizards suggests, then it is most likely an autosomal recessive gene. However, it would be more like hair color rather than something specific, say, color blindness. The difference?
Something like color blindness is basically one little spot on one X chromosome, and if you end up with one if you're a boy and two if you're a girl, you're red-green colorblind, end of story. Hair color is far less specific. The gene for hair color has lots and lots of space for variants and is extremely long (compared to color blindness). Thus, there a whole lot of shades of hair to end up with, even though you'll have a basis in your parents/family's hair colors (e.g. your parents have black hair/brown hair, you end up with light brown).
Magic is (in my mind) the same way as hair color. Your magic is inherited, and is influenced by both parents, but you can still end up with a range of things like strength of magic, propensity for wandless magic, etc. While there will be some fundamental similarities within your family (which also would explain how blood curses pass themselves on from father to child, as they only donate genetic material), your magical ability (and hair color) is a unique combination of your parents, making you different than your siblings, and quite different than just the sum of your parents.
I think my whole point was, you probably can't determine magical inheritance with a Punnett Square. After all, the appearance of Muggleborns suggests a very recessive, more complex and longer genome, and the concept of Squibs...for that explanation, there are a whole lot of advanced biology possibilities.
Yeah, biology is complicated. Magical biology even more so, since not a single ounce of what I just said can be proven or tested. But it was fun to theorize anyway :). -Jolene
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Date: 2009-11-18 03:59 am (UTC)Something like color blindness is basically one little spot on one X chromosome, and if you end up with one if you're a boy and two if you're a girl, you're red-green colorblind, end of story. Hair color is far less specific. The gene for hair color has lots and lots of space for variants and is extremely long (compared to color blindness). Thus, there a whole lot of shades of hair to end up with, even though you'll have a basis in your parents/family's hair colors (e.g. your parents have black hair/brown hair, you end up with light brown).
Magic is (in my mind) the same way as hair color. Your magic is inherited, and is influenced by both parents, but you can still end up with a range of things like strength of magic, propensity for wandless magic, etc. While there will be some fundamental similarities within your family (which also would explain how blood curses pass themselves on from father to child, as they only donate genetic material), your magical ability (and hair color) is a unique combination of your parents, making you different than your siblings, and quite different than just the sum of your parents.
I think my whole point was, you probably can't determine magical inheritance with a Punnett Square. After all, the appearance of Muggleborns suggests a very recessive, more complex and longer genome, and the concept of Squibs...for that explanation, there are a whole lot of advanced biology possibilities.
Yeah, biology is complicated. Magical biology even more so, since not a single ounce of what I just said can be proven or tested. But it was fun to theorize anyway :).
-Jolene