How can two people with normal pigmentation produce a child with albinism?
That is because these parents — like one out of every 75 people — are carriers for albinism. A carrier is someone who has one functional gene and one abnormal gene. (We all have two copies of all genes, except the sex chromosomes X and Y). Because the functional gene overrides the abnormal gene, these people do not have albinism themselves. However, they are still able to pass the abnormal gene on to their child. If the other parent is also a carrier for the same type of albinism, the offspring has a 25% chance of having albinism, a 50% chance of being a carrier, and a 25% chance of having two “normal” genes.
