The DNA of Harry Potter.
I get bored in biology and started thinking about the Harry Potter people and what makes them magical and what makes the Muggles non magical, so being the person I am I came up with this:
First I would like to do some pedigrees to find the genotypes of some of the people in the books X=witch/wizard O=Muggle.
1 Lily's father O + Lily's mother O = Lily X and petunia O
2 Mr. Potter X + Mrs. Potter X = James X
Lily X + James X = Harry X
From this pedigree the easiest conclusion to draw is that being magical is a recessive trait. Both of Lily's parents would have to be Aa and therefore making her aa. James's family must all be aa so would all wizarding families.
The thing that challenges this assumption is squibs. There are now two possible explanations for this. The first and by far simplest is that there is a mutation in the gene that has magic in it. The second is that the idea that wizarding is a simple recessive trait is also wrong.
Having it be an x-linked trait is out of the question because it occurs in boys and girls about the same amount
It could also not be linked to mitochondria DNA which is separate from regular DNA because it is passed directly from the mother. Since Lily's mother is not a witch that could not be possible.
Now what about people who are half and half? What decides weather they will be Muggle or magic. I believe that it was seamus who was half and half. His mother the witch would automatically be aa and so would he because he became a wizard. Therefore he must have gotten an a from both parents and because his father was non magic he would have to be Aa.
Seamus had a 50% chance of being a Muggle instead of a wizard and if his father had been AA he would have definitely been a Muggle.
The biggest problem comes in the form of the Creeveys. Both Colin and Denis are wizards and Muggle born. This is very strange. Both Mr. And Mrs. Creevey must have been Aa and their children would be aa. There is only a 25% chance that two heterozygous parents will have a homozygous recessive child and 12.5% that they will have two.
Another thing that is not addressed: for this to be true there is probably some history of Magic in Lily's family which is never discussed in the books.
I get bored in biology and started thinking about the Harry Potter people and what makes them magical and what makes the Muggles non magical, so being the person I am I came up with this:
First I would like to do some pedigrees to find the genotypes of some of the people in the books X=witch/wizard O=Muggle.
1 Lily's father O + Lily's mother O = Lily X and petunia O
2 Mr. Potter X + Mrs. Potter X = James X
Lily X + James X = Harry X
From this pedigree the easiest conclusion to draw is that being magical is a recessive trait. Both of Lily's parents would have to be Aa and therefore making her aa. James's family must all be aa so would all wizarding families.
The thing that challenges this assumption is squibs. There are now two possible explanations for this. The first and by far simplest is that there is a mutation in the gene that has magic in it. The second is that the idea that wizarding is a simple recessive trait is also wrong.
Having it be an x-linked trait is out of the question because it occurs in boys and girls about the same amount
It could also not be linked to mitochondria DNA which is separate from regular DNA because it is passed directly from the mother. Since Lily's mother is not a witch that could not be possible.
Now what about people who are half and half? What decides weather they will be Muggle or magic. I believe that it was seamus who was half and half. His mother the witch would automatically be aa and so would he because he became a wizard. Therefore he must have gotten an a from both parents and because his father was non magic he would have to be Aa.
Seamus had a 50% chance of being a Muggle instead of a wizard and if his father had been AA he would have definitely been a Muggle.
The biggest problem comes in the form of the Creeveys. Both Colin and Denis are wizards and Muggle born. This is very strange. Both Mr. And Mrs. Creevey must have been Aa and their children would be aa. There is only a 25% chance that two heterozygous parents will have a homozygous recessive child and 12.5% that they will have two.
Another thing that is not addressed: for this to be true there is probably some history of Magic in Lily's family which is never discussed in the books.