Question

Blood typing can help determine paternity. Suppose an unmarried woman gives birth, charges a certain man with being the father, and sues for child support. He demands blood tests, which show that the woman is type A, the baby is type A, and he is type B. Does this evidence rule him out as the father? Please explain and discuss why or why not

Answer 1

The evidence is not enough to rule him out as the baby's father.

Step-by-step explanation:

If one parent has Type A blood, and the other has Type B, the baby can be either Type A, B, AB, or O. There are 3 types of blood alleles; A, B, and O. A and B are codominant, meaning that they are equally dominant. Both the A and the B will dominate the O, but if both are present together, they become AB. If the father's blood consists of a B and an O, then it's entirely possible that he gave the O and the Mother gave an A. The A would dominate the O, meaning that even though the allele would be read as AO, the blood type would be A. But this argument only works if the father is BO. If the father was BB, then it would be impossible for the baby to have Type A blood.

(this might seem a little scattered, I'm sorry. I just basically typed my thought process)