Can Children Have Dimples if Their Parents Dont?

Generally speaking, dimples are considered to be irregularly dominant inheritance on autosomes, thus they are unrelated to gender. Additionally, even if both parents do not have dimples, their children may still possess them. This is because the parents may carry the genotype for dimples but do not express it, while their children may have the genotype "aa", which results in the appearance of dimples. The absence of dimples in parents may be due to their genotype being "Aa, Aa", which does not manifest as dimples. However, in their children, the genotype could potentially be "aa", which would result in the expression of dimples.

Generally, if both parents have dimples, the possibility of their children having dimples ranges from 50% to 100%. Some students may wonder why, if both parents have dimples, their children do not necessarily inherit them. This is because there are many possible variations in the genes that determine the presence of dimples. Even if both parents have dimples, their children may not necessarily inherit them.

The formation of dimples is due to muscle activity beneath the skin. Most muscles in the human body are firmly attached to bones by tendon fibers, such as the chest muscles and lower limb muscles. However, the facial expression muscles are an exception, as they are directly attached to the facial skin. When the expression muscles contract, they pull on the facial skin, resulting in various wrinkles and expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, and joy. The small dimples that appear on the face when smiling are formed by the relative pulling of the facial skin and facial expression muscles, such as the buccinator muscle and the zygomaticus major muscle.

Whether or not a person has dimples is related to the development of their facial expression muscles. People with less developed zygomaticus major muscles and less subcutaneous fat in the face generally do not develop dimples when smiling. Of course, dimples can also be created surgically.

Dimples are a recessive trait. Recessive inheritance means that the recessive gene must be present in pairs for the trait to be expressed. In contrast, dominant inheritance refers to a situation where only one dominant gene is necessary for the trait to be expressed, even if it is not in pairs. For example, a pointed chin and double eyelids are examples of dominant inheritance. Dimples can also be created surgically.