When I learned about heredity in biology class last year, my teacher brought up the topic of colour blindness quite often. So, I started to wonder what exactly is colour blindness and how does it got anything to do with genetics.
What is Colour Blindness?
Colour blindness, also known as colour vision deficiency (CVD), is essentially when an abnormality occurs to the colour-detecting molecules (photopigments). This results in the person’s deficiency in perceiving specific shades of colour.
There are several types of colour blindness, but the three main ones are protanopia (red-blindness), deuteranopia (green-blindness) and tritanopia (blue-blindness). There are cases of total colour blindness (monochromacy), but it is very rare.
We can acquire colour blindness through a vast amount of ways, like from diseases, accidents or even aging. But the most common way of getting colour blindness is through inheriting it from your parents.
Colour Blindness as a Trait
As you may or may not know, for any specific trait, you would get one chromosome (coiled up genes) from each of your parents. And depending on which gene is dominant, you will be inheriting the corresponding trait.
Colour blind, believe it or not, is also a trait that you can inherit. Though, it is an interesting one, for it has something to do with the sex chromosomes. Depending on the X or Y chromosome that you get from your dad, it will determine your biological gender. And since the trait can only be carried by X chromosomes, boys do have higher chance of being colour blind. Girls, having two X chromosomes, can rely on the chance of only inherit one carrier chromosome. This might spare them from being entirely colour blind.
Final Thoughts
The idea of colour blindness and how it links to genetics biology is truly fascinating. I truly believe that people should have more opportunities to explore the topic of heredity and recessive traits. And although colour blindness may causes difficulties in the daily life of carriers, I do think it’s amazing that some people are able to perceive the world differently. It’s just like they have their own visible spectrum!
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