Black Parents... Blond & White Baby!

BENJAMIN and ANGELA Ihegboro's daughter, Nmachi, has flummoxed genetic experts who are unable to explain why she looks they way she does. The blonde, blue-eyed girl's Nigerian parents say they don't know of any white ancestry in either of their families.

THIS sounds a very unusual case say’s PROF BRYAN SYKES of the Oxford University. Quite extraordinary. All skin and eye color are controlled by the pigment melanin. And there are about a dozen genes that control the amount or type of melanin. Even if there had been convergence of a pale version of the parents' genes, there would have to be some form of white ancestry on both sides for the baby to look this way. As albinism has been ruled out, it is more likely that there has been some other mutation that's happened to produce this coloring. Without further tests, that is, in my opinion, the most rational explanation.