The Genetics of Blood

Genetics of Blood Types

• Your blood type is established before you are BORN,

by specific GENES inherited from your parents.

• You inherit one gene from your MOTHER and one

from your FATHER.

• These genes determine your blood type by causing

proteins called ANTIGENS to exist on the surface of
all of your red blood cells.
 Alleles
•There are three versions (called
“alleles”) of this blood type gene: A, B,
and O.

•A person’s blood type is determined by

which allele he/she inherits from each
parent.
 Pheno vs. Geno
•The genetic makeup of an organism is
called the “genotype”.
•The “phenotype” is the visible
properties of an organism.
•In this case, the A, B, and O allele
combination a person has is their
genotype
•Their blood type is their phenotype.
 Dominant vs. Recessive Genes
•The “A” allele is dominant and so is
the “B” allele.
•They will be “seen” if there is only 1
allele
 Example
Mr. E got an “A” allele from his dad and
an “O” allele from his mom. What is his
blood type?
 Dominant vs. Recessive Genes
•“A” and “B” alleles are co-dominant.
•When both are there, both will be
“seen”
 Example
Ororo Munroe got an “A” allele from her
dad and a “B” allele from her mom. What
is her blood type?
 Dominant vs. Recessive Genes
•The “O” allele is recessive.
•If any other alleles are present, even if
an “O” allele is there, it will still not be
O type.
•Got to have 2 “O” alleles
 Example
Ms. Walls got an “O” allele from her dad
and a “O” allele from her mom. What is
her blood type?
Determining the Genotype
The blood type gene has three
different alleles:
•IA is the A allele
•IB is the B allele
•i is the O allele
 The ABO blood system
Genotypes Phenotypes (Blood types)
IA IA
IA i
IB IB
IB i
IA IB
ii
 The ABO blood system

•Blood types A and B have two possible

genotypes
•A blood types can be IA IA OR IAi
•B blood types can be IB IB OR IBi

•Blood types AB and O only have one

genotype each.
 Determining the Genotype
•Scenario:

•Mom has the alleles IAIA for blood type

and Dad has the alleles IBIB blood type.
•First, what are the parent’s blood
types?
•What will be the blood type for their
child?
 Punnett Squares

IA IA

IB

IB
Practice
A mother has blood Type A and
genotype IAi and the father has
blood Type B and genotype IBi.
Draw a Punnett square to show the
possible genotypes of their
children.

What are the phenotypes of the

kids?
Practice

IB i

IA

i
Practice
A mother has blood Type A and genotype IAi
and the father has blood Type B and
genotype IB IB. The father doesn’t think the
kid is his, so he has a blood test done. The
kid’s blood type is O.

Is the father right?

What about Rh?
Rh is a different gene than the ABO genes.

It only has 2 alleles:

R is positive
r is negative
What about Rh?
R is dominant, so only 1 copy is needed
to be Rh+.

r is recessive, so 2 copies are needed to

be Rh-.
To really know blood types, you have
to do 2 punnet squares: 1 for ABO
and 1 for Rh
Practice
Ms. Walls got an r allele from her mother
and an r allele from her father. Is she
Rh+ or Rh-?
Practice
A couple goes on Maury to do a paternity test.
The mother has IBi alleles for her ABO and rr
alleles for her Rh. The father has IBIB alleles
for her ABO and RR alleles for his Rh.

If the baby’s blood type is AB+, can he be the

father?
Practice
A couple goes on Maury to do a paternity test.
The mother has IBi alleles for her ABO and rr
alleles for her Rh. The father has IBIB alleles
for her ABO and RR alleles for his Rh.

What if the baby’s blood type is AB-, can he be

the father?