Dad's X only comes from his mother's side of his family so a daughter does not carry any DNA from the father's Paternal side at all (on the X).

This is why females are likely to resemble their paternal grandmothers in certain ways--in looks or personality or both. It's not true for everyone, of course, but it sure is for me.

I'm sure that's true in some ways, but I think resemblance has to be based on several different Chromosomes.

Personally speaking, I look absolutely nothing like my paternal grandmother. I do have some of my father's features but they were the same features in his father. His father resemble his mother. My oldest son looks a lot like my paternal grandfather did in his late teens. There's even pictures with the exact same expressions which is really quite odd to think that our facial expression could in part be genetic.

I do think I resemble my mother more though and she resembles her mother quite a bit. There's nobody I look a lot like though. I seemed to get a real mix of both sides of my family. Oddly enough though, my cousin's son who is around 12, looks just like my youngest brother did at that age (this is on my mom's side). It's funny how some siblings get a real mix, others are strongly towards one side or the other. My kids are like that, oldest (me), middle (husband), youngest (mix but more me).

It's also pretty cool to think I've been told that I look Scandinavian (major cheek bones) but nobody ever new anything of any in our ancestry and here my DNA is showing it.

Interesting concept Alisande. It wouldn't apply to my grandmother though, she's not your typical loving grandmother. She definitely has her favorites but they are my aunt's daughters, though they did grow up right down the road from her. She's not your loving type of person though so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I really hope that I don't have many of her personality traits. Haha

I look like my paternal grandmother's brother, which sucks because I'm female! How is that possible? ;) that's ok, my male cousin looks exactly like his paternal grandmother. Different side of the family, so it's not like we got mixed up.

Rob that made me snort. People used to comment all the time how my oldest looks just like me. I do not look masculine at all and he doesn't look feminine so I think the subtle differences are enough..... usually.

I remember when our daughter had her first baby, a boy. Her mother-in-law kept saying somewhat puzzled, "He doesn't look anything like us." Actually, he had his paternal grandfather's mouth and chin, but since he was so fair, she thought he favored our side of the family. I really don't know how fair the paternal side is for my grandson since they live in a warm climate and have such sun damaged, and thus darker skin. I can't tell what their natural coloring would be. When I read why grandsons don't look like their paternal grandmothers, her comment made even more sense.

I don't think it is true that the X you get from Dad only contains genes from his mother...I have Ancestry matches with cousins from my Dad's father's side. His Paternal Grandmother to be exact. I think the chromosomes mix it up at some point. If I got only the X from my Father's Mother they would all be Irish matches...she was the child of two Irish parents. It's more complicated than it looks.

Joann

Here is an article that explains what is called "recombination" http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/paternal-grandmothers-dna

Ghoghunter - Men can only pass the Y on to their sons so on the 23rd Chromosome it is not carried. On other chromosomes it is passed on.

So a Female will no have any DNA on her 23rd Chromosome that was from her Paternal Grandfather's family. She will have it from her Paternal Grandmother's side but only some of it, same with only some of her maternal side. If you look at the chart in the link that will show you more clearly than I can likely explain it.

If you were a man, you would get your Y from your father and only the father's line of males passed on from one generation to the next since females cannot carry the way. The male's X would be a combo from his mother's side.

That article you posted is talking about it being passed on autosomal Chromosomes (1-22). It is answering a male and It states, "The one chromosome from your mom that you didn’t pass to your son was the X. Since you had a son, you passed your Y instead. And you’re right that the Y passes pretty much from father to son intact."

Does that clarify what I mean? I know sometimes it sounds clear in my head but I don't explain it well enough to others.

But the article says:

What you might also notice is that the one set of chromosomes that does not mix and match is the X and the Y. Chromosomes have to be pretty similar to recombine and the X and the Y are just too different.

This is why you pass a Y pretty much unchanged from your dad to your son. And why the X you got from your mom is passed pretty much intact to your daughter.

This X chromosome is why your daughter has a bit more of your mom’s DNA than does your son. She got your mom’s X…all of your son’s X DNA came from his mother.

After that, it loses me. :-) I'll have to come back when I have more time.

Since I am confusing people more I'll try the picture approach. In the first Chart the circle is person #1 (you), #2 & 3 are your parents. All the coloured spots show who contributes to your X on both sides (mother and father's side). This is usually the way it works but sometimes nothing will be passed on from some people's side. Remember this is ONLY for your 23rd Chromosome

In the second chart This is a man's X inheritance. The Father's side is not shown because he gets a Y from that side and it's father to son in a direct line.

Very interesting. I will have to look into that. There is so much to learn! DS looks exactly like his father. We have had strangers say he looks like his clone. Regarding looks and build, DS got nothing from my side of the family. And DH looks very much like his father, especially as he gets older. Almost all my physical traits come from my father, and I look more like him every year. My fraternal twin sister resembles my mother's mother. They could have been sisters they look so much alike. And my oldest brother was a twin of my mother's father. That was kind of freaky. Funny how what physical traits are passed from generation to generation.

Well Ancestry tests autosomal. That's what I had tested and I have results form both sides. All the X's on my other 22 chromosomes...they sex chromosome is not tested in Autosomal. I know I don't have any Y. Your original post make it sound like I would be missing a whole line of DNA on my fathers side which is not the case.

ghoghunter, I think you are confused about the way the Chromosomes work. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46. Every Chromosome gets a contribution from both your mother and your father. None of the first 22 get an X contribution. The X / Y is what determines the sex of the baby. You are mis-reading the post. On the last Chromosome (23) you do not get ANY genetic contribution from your Paternal grandfather's side of the family. You also do not get any genetic information from several other males on all sides due to the way it is passed on. So for example, I also wouldn't get any contribution on that chromosome from my maternal grandfather's father line either.