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WASHINGTON — In the reality of " Harry Potter , " magical ability runs in the house . Witches and wizard have parents who are witches or wizards , and they are typically born into family that have already produced generation of sceptre - wielders .
There are exceptions to this rule — Hermione Granger was born to a duo of Muggles ( the great unwashed withoutmagical office ) , and Harry ’s roomie , Seamus Finnigan , was the boy of a Muggle father and an Irish Wiccan .
Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) gather at platform 9 and 3/4 to send the next generation of witches and wizards to Hogwarts, in “The Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2011).
And sometimes , a witch and wizard couple will produce a non - magical person — known as a squib — such as the cranky Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch , or Harry ’s Privet Drive neighbour and childhood sitter , Arabella Figg . Magic appear to follow some of the same rules as other traits that are inherited , but what could be thegenetic factorsthat explain why someone is born a witch or a thaumaturge — or without any magical ability at all ? [ Science Fact or Fiction : The Plausibility of 10 Sci - Fi Concepts ]
A roomful of citizenry here at Future Con got a crash course of instruction in wizarding DNA — and the basic workings of genetic science — on June 17 , at a talk hosted by Eric Spana , an assistant prof in the Department of Biology at Duke University , in North Carolina .
genetic science can explicate more in the " Potterverse " than just magical power — like the Weasley household ’s signature hair color , for example . Red hair is because of a mutation inthe MC1R gene ; but it ’s a recessionary trait , which means it browse up only when the sport is present in both set of desoxyribonucleic acid that a baby inherits . Arthur and Molly Weasley are both redheads , thereby ensuring that their issue would inherit two copies of the gene sport , and would be born with crimson hair , Spana explained .
Eric Spana, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Duke University, describes wizard DNA at the Future Con panel, “Harry Potter and the Genetics of Wizarding."
However , in the very last prospect of the last movie , " The Deathly Hallows : Part 2 " ( Warner Bros. 2011 ) , we see that Harry and Ginny ’s untested girl Lily has red hair , even though Harry ’s pilus is chocolate-brown . In that case , the gene mutant came from Harry ’s transcript of his female parent ’s DNA . His female parent had crimson hair , so he inherited the genetic mutation — but it could n’t do anything until it happen a 2nd copy of the mutated cistron in Ginny Weasley ’s desoxyribonucleic acid , Spana say .
Is the wizarding gene recessive , like the gene for reddish hair ? Hagrid , the half - giant - half - mavin groundskeeper at Hogwarts , establish that it is n’t , according to Spana . Giants have no wizard ability , and Hagrid was born to a jumbo female parent and a wizard father . For him to be born a wizard with only one transcript of the necromancer gene in his DNA , magical ability would have to bea dominant trait , Spana said .
This instance seems to suggest that illusion is linked to the Y chromosome , which means the cistron would have to come from the father ’s deoxyribonucleic acid ( female have two X chromosome , while males have one X and one wye chromosome ) . However , Seamus Finnigan had a Muggle father and a witch mother , which suggests it ca n’t be the Y chromosome that carries the gene . That would make wizarding ability something call an somatic chromosome — a trait that is n’t link up to sex characteristics , Spana said . [ unscramble the Human Genome : 6 Molecular Milestones ]
" It ’s an autosomal , predominant trait , " he concluded .
But if it ’s a prevailing trait , then where did Hermione ’s magic come from , as the first beldam to be born in her folk ? Hermione is an model of a " de novo " mutation — agenetic mutationthat appear in a lineage for the first time , due to a genetic mutation in the egg or sperm , or within the embryo itself following fertilization . And this type of mutation occurs quite frequently in real life , Spana said .
A random genetic mutation could also explain how a non - magic squib could be stomach to two wizardly parents , he add together .
If the wizarding factor is cultivate correctly , it prepare a sure type of protein . The phenotype , or observable characteristic resulting from that activity , is witching power . But if there ’s amutation in that cistron — Spana suggested calling it the " SQUIB " mutation — a unlike eccentric of protein turns the magical cistron off . If one parent ’s DNA carries a written matter of the SQUIB sport , it can turn off the wizarding protein , which cancels a nestling ’s power to do magic .
" We do this in fruit rainfly all the time , " Spana say , referring to manipulation of hereditable traits in general and not of genes for magic .
And then there areindividual variationsin wizarding power , with some witch and wizards recognized to be more powerful than their colleague . Could genetics explicate that as well ? Not entirely , Spana said .
" I come from the ' basketball school day ' — genetics makes you 6 - foot-8 , but it does n’t give you attainment . act at it yield you skill , " Spana say . Hermione ’s office , as well as the varying degrees of expertise demonstrated by the Weasley youngster , suggests that one ’s magical power is not completelyreliant on genetics , he said .
As the discussion disembowel to a finale , an audience penis ask Spana the one question that must accompany any serious conversation about the Potterverse : Which Hogwarts house would the Sorting Hat have place him into ?
" I ’m 100 percentage Slytherin — or as I like to call it , ' direction , ' " Spana said .
Original article onLive skill .
