| MadSci Network: General Biology |
Just like people have different colored eyes or hair, they have different types of blood.
We inherit our blood type from our parents. Genes on our chromosomes tell the body what type of blood to make. If we have the genes for the A antigen we will make red blood cells that have A on them. The attached drawing shows the different common antigens that we can have on our blood cells.
If we inherit A antigen from both parents or A from one and neither A or B from the other we will have group A blood.
If we inherit B antigen from both parents or B from one and neither A or B from the other we will have group B blood.
If we inherit A antigen from one parent and B from the other we will have group AB blood.
If we inherit neither antigen from both parents we will have group O blood. There is no O antigen. O is the result of not having any A or B.
In addition to our blood group (A,B,AB,O) we can inherit the D antigen. D is more commonly know as the Rh type. This is what is called the positive or negative. Either we have it or we don't.
If we inherit Rh antigen from both parents or Rh from one and not from the other we will have type positive blood.
If we do not inherit the Rh antigen from either parent we will have type negative blood.
References:
1)this is common knowledge in the feild of clinical laboratory science
2)any Immunohematology (Blood Banking) textbook will contain this
information; I suggest:
Immunohematology by Eva Quinley, Lippincott 1993
Modern Blood Banking and Transfusion Practices by Denise Harmening,
F.A.Davis 1999
3)children's book which are helpful include:
Time Life Understanding Science and Nature series: Human Body
Reader's Digest: How the Body Works
Here is a table showing blood type inheritance:
BLOOD GROUPS A B AB O INHERITENCE PATTERNS
<
span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Parent 1 Parent 2
Children‚s
Blood Groups ( % )
<
span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Blood
Blood Parent 1
Parent 2 O
A B AB
|
O |
O |
OO |
OO |
100 % |
|
|
|
|
|
|
O |
A |
OO |
AA |
|
|
100 % |
|
|
|
|
OO |
AO |
50 % |
|
50% |
|
|
|
||
|
O |
B |
OO |
BB |
|
|
|
|
100% |
|
|
OO |
BO |
50 % |
|
|
|
50 % |
|
||
|
O |
AB |
OO |
AB |
|
|
50 % |
|
50% |
|
|
A |
A |
AA |
AA |
|
100 % |
|
|
|
|
|
AA |
AO |
|
50 % |
50 % |
|
|
|
||
|
AO |
AO |
25 % |
25 % |
50 % |
|
|
|
||
|
A |
B |
AA |
BB |
|
|
|
|
|
100 % |
|
AA |
BO |
|
|
50 % |
|
|
50 % |
||
|
AO |
BB |
|
|
|
|
50 % |
50 % |
||
|
AO |
BO |
25 % |
|
25 % |
|
25 % |
25 % |
||
|
A |
AB |
AA |
AB |
|
50 % |
|
|
|
50 % |
|
AO |
AB |
|
25 % |
25% |
|
25% |
25% |
||
|
B |
B |
BB |
BB |
|
|
|
100 % |
|
|
|
BB |
BO |
|
|
|
50 % |
50 % |
|
||
|
BO |
BO |
25 % |
|
|
25 % |
50 % |
|
||
|
B |
AB |
BB |
AB |
|
|
|
50 % |
|
50 % |
|
BO |
AB |
|
|
25 % |
25 % |
25 % |
25 % |
||
|
AB |
AB |
AB |
AB |
|
25 % |
|
25 % |
|
50 % |
Modified from Time Life Understanding Science & Nature: Human Body
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