Male pattern baldness

[stratego]

I've heard that male pattern baldness isn't passed on from father to son, but from mother to sun. To see if you'll go bald, you shouldn't see if your father is bald or balding, you should see if your grandfather (mother's father) is bald or balding. My question is, if your father doesn't pass the baldness gene to you, how is your mother's father able to pass his gene to your mother to pass on to you?

 

[SanPellegrino]

I don't know, but this is very bad news for me personally

sources? I must check!!!

 

[GenMarshall]

I always thought it had to deal with the mother's father .

For example, if youre mother's father still has hair, youre still going to have hair
If youre mother's father is bald, then youre doomed to ballness

 

[Yom]

I've heard that male pattern baldness isn't passed on from father to son, but from mother to sun. To see if you'll go bald, you shouldn't see if your father is bald or balding, you should see if your grandfather (mother's father) is bald or balding. My question is, if your father doesn't pass the baldness gene to you, how is your mother's father able to pass his gene to your mother to pass on to you?

The trait is recessive and is carried on the X (one of the sex chromosomes) chromosome. Since males are XY (presence of a Y chromosome determines maleness, XX is female), the X chromosome must have come from the mother and the Y from the father. If your mother is a carrier (one of the X's has the gene on it), then you have a 50% chance of getting it if you are a male. If your mother has it (both X's have the gene on it, since it's recessive), and you are male, you surely will have it. Females can have the trait, but since they have to get it from both their father and mother, it's less likely.

 

[AceChilla]

Your mother has the gene but it doesn't affect anything with her, but she can pas it on to her kids. I think the gene is passive with her and becomes active once a male caries it. Just like some people caries genetic diseases which doesn't affect them but do become active in their kids when their partner has some special genetic combination.

I don't know why some genes are passed by the father and other by the mother. I always thought it was just a random mix.

But for me this is also good news

 

[Syterion]

I've heard this too, and it is true. It is scientifically proven to be a mother's inherited trait. And it is great because my grandfather has a thick head of still growing, albeit white, hair, at 72 years old.

 

[stratego]

I wonder what would be the evolutionary benefit of losing hair.

 

[Amenhotep7]

If that's true...

[playground taunt]I'm not gonna go baa-ald.[/playground taunt]



And if this is true, then I'm not gonna gray much either. My grandfather's (mom's side) hair is salt and pepper, mostly pepper.

 

[AceChilla]

I wonder what would be the evolutionary benefit of losing hair.

I think humans are naturally not build to last over 50 years. Everything already starts to go downhill after 27.

 

[Yom]

If that's true...

[playground taunt]I'm not gonna go baa-ald.[/playground taunt]



And if this is true, then I'm not gonna gray much either. My grandfather's (mom's side) hair is salt and pepper, mostly pepper.

Whether your grandfather is balding or not doesn't matter much. He could not have the trait and your mother could still be a carrier through your grandmother (the gene is recessive, so even if your grandmother is a carrier, she won't bald). However, if your grandfather went bald, your mother is surely a carrier, which gives you a 50% chance of going bald (assuming your mother doesn't have both genes).

In short, if your grandfather is bald and your mother is not, then you have a 50% chance of being bald. If your Grandfather was not and neither is your mother, then you have either a 0% (mother is not a carrier) or 50% chance (mother is a carrier). If your mother is bald, then you will go bald.

This is assuming you're male. I don't think graying is a sex-linked trait. Most likely it's polygenic (multiple genes affect it), like skin color.

 

[Quentin]

Ha! Gaze at my non-balding hair and tremble !

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Baldness = more hormones = testosterone = manliness = women secretly know there is more masculinity at work in your system = the less hair you have, the more 'head' you get.

-this coming from a guy with a full head of thick hair (only slight recession in the corners of the scalp - as is the case with my mother's father). I'll lose a little bit, but looking at my 80 y/o grandfather - what he's got, is fine with me. Never argue with your DNA.

 

[Yom]

Baldness = more hormones = testosterone = manliness = women secretly know there is more masculinity at work in your system = the less hair you have, the more 'head' you get.

-this coming from a guy with a full head of thick hair (only slight recession in the corners of the scalp - as is the case with my mother's father). I'll lose a little bit, but looking at my 80 y/o grandfather - what he's got, is fine with me. Never argue with your DNA.

I don't mean to burst your bubble but read what I posted. It has more to do with what genes your mother has than your grandfather.

 

[Mario Feldberg]

I'm ****ed. I've the genes (and it's already showing - at the age of 23!). AFAIK there is no way to stop it right?

 

[PantheraTigris2]

I don't mean to burst your bubble but read what I posted. It has more to do with what genes your mother has than your grandfather.

Umm, like most women, my mother is not bald. Ok, so you're saying my mother's father has nothing to do with HER genes. Very strange. Is she a clone of my grandmother? I didn't think they had cloning in 1955?

If not that... then what, I need to go look at my mother's mother's father? The maternal great-grandfather is the ONLY one responsible for my genes in this area? That man is 1/8 of my DNA... forget about the other 7/8?

My hairline looks exactly like my (maternal) grandfather's when he was my age.

 

[Jawz II]

well good thing for me...

i dont have to worry about nuthin

every single male in my family on both sides are bald and i lost my hair at the tender age of 20...

 

[Warman17]

I'm ****ed. I've the genes (and it's already showing - at the age of 23!). AFAIK there is no way to stop it right?

rogain

 

[Dan-Beersheba]

crap, both of my grandfathers are bald.

 

[cgannon64]

I wonder what would be the evolutionary benefit of losing hair.

I don't think there is any, but there isn't any negative effect, so it lives on.

 

[Mario Feldberg]

Good News for people like me:
(damn, I should have done a web-search earlier.)
Today there are drugs who can stop the effect by reducing the amount of DTH (the substance that causes the baldness) in your blood.
So if you're still young and the balding has just started there's hope!
(I'm going to see the doctor soon!)