Benjamin and Angela Ihegboro are a black couple but they have a daughter with white skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Doctors at the British hospital said baby Nmachi isn’t born an albino.
Neither Mr or Mrs Ihegboro know of any whites in their ancestry. They had moved to Britain, from their native Nigeria, about 5 years ago. Benjamin and Angela Ihegboro have two older children who were born black. Their daughter Dumebi Ihegboro is two, and their son, Chisom, is four years old.
Genetic experts said they were unable to explain why Nmachi Ihegboro has white skin. Usually parents who have the light colored skin gene may produce off spring whose skin color is light in color. The gene for skin color may skip one or two generations and suddenly show up. When an individual has a mixed genetic combination, unusual traits may manifest.
There was no talk of DNA paternity testing. Mr Ihegboro said he had complete trust in his wife’s fidelity, and furthermore, baby Nmachi’s features seem to be Nigerian, despite the skin, hair and eye color. Mr Ihegboro said that of course, baby Nmachi was fathered by him only.
There may have been gene mutation in the gene controlling color in Nmachi.
Nmachi Ihegboro was born with a head of long, curly, blond hair. Even the white, blond haired babies do not show this characteristic. Probably the gene for hair may have been directly inherited from her parents.
The mother’s egg may be having the genes for the white skin color while the sperm which fertilized her egg may be containing all the genes for white skin too. That would be a likely explanation why a pair of black parents had a baby with white skin, blond hair, blue eyes, and with features looking like a white baby.
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