Hang on a minute, this only works if you're presuming the b allele is just filler. What if it has the effect of suppressing a bending allele? So, for instance, you don't need AA to be an airbender; you just need A[something-that-is-not-b].
That way the young Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin could all have the AW genotype, in which some other factor determines whether A or W or neither gets expressed.
Granted, it only works if Pema is a mixed-type nonbender, rather than a bb-type nonbender, so that her kids would all be mixed-type Airbenders. We'll have to wait on her backstory for that...
Knowing Mako and Bolin's history would help too. If bending is recessive, they're FF and EE, and their parents must both have been FE (meaning their grandparents must have been in two mixed-nation marriages). If bending is dominant and mixed genotypes are nonbending, they're Fb and Eb, and their parents were either Fb and Eb (both benders), or FE and bb (both nonbenders, one set of mixed-nation grandparents). And if nonbending is dominant and mixed genotypes express in various ways, they're both FE, and their parents were Fb and Eb (both nonbenders, no earlier mixed marriages). The last one is the backstory I would have guessed for them, if nothing else.
I do feel like, if bending is a simple dominant trait, there should be a lot more benders than there are.
...ooh! What if there's a "nonbending" allele that's dominant (B) as well as the recessive "eh, do what you want" allele (b)? That way you could have Kya as BW, and Hakoda as Bb, WB, or bb, leaving Katara as WW or Wb (and Sokka as BB, Bb, or BW)...and I'm going to cut myself off here before I start trying to draw up according squares for everyone like some kind of demented bendy Sudoku.
tl;dr This was an interesting post, thank you for making it :D
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Date: 2012-05-22 09:59 pm (UTC)That way the young Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin could all have the AW genotype, in which some other factor determines whether A or W or neither gets expressed.
Granted, it only works if Pema is a mixed-type nonbender, rather than a bb-type nonbender, so that her kids would all be mixed-type Airbenders. We'll have to wait on her backstory for that...
Knowing Mako and Bolin's history would help too. If bending is recessive, they're FF and EE, and their parents must both have been FE (meaning their grandparents must have been in two mixed-nation marriages). If bending is dominant and mixed genotypes are nonbending, they're Fb and Eb, and their parents were either Fb and Eb (both benders), or FE and bb (both nonbenders, one set of mixed-nation grandparents). And if nonbending is dominant and mixed genotypes express in various ways, they're both FE, and their parents were Fb and Eb (both nonbenders, no earlier mixed marriages). The last one is the backstory I would have guessed for them, if nothing else.
I do feel like, if bending is a simple dominant trait, there should be a lot more benders than there are.
...ooh! What if there's a "nonbending" allele that's dominant (B) as well as the recessive "eh, do what you want" allele (b)? That way you could have Kya as BW, and Hakoda as Bb, WB, or bb, leaving Katara as WW or Wb (and Sokka as BB, Bb, or BW)...and I'm going to cut myself off here before I start trying to draw up according squares for everyone like some kind of demented bendy Sudoku.
tl;dr This was an interesting post, thank you for making it :D