Genetics of Ears

A young woman with extraordinary ears --definitely cup-shaped instead of reasonably flat--recently presented herself for examination at Chicago's Lying-in Hospital. She wanted to know whether, if she married, her children would inherit ears like hers. She had three brothers and one sister with similar cupped ears, three brothers and three sisters with normal ears. Speaking for all eleven she asked whether they were going to pass on the embarrassing abnormality to their children.

Delighted with the co-operation of such an intelligent subject, Edith Louise Potter of Lying-In's staff investigated the family history, presented her findings last week in the Journal oj Heredity. Five generations of the inquiring young woman's family had the abnormal ears--mother, grandfather, great-grandmother, great-great-grand-father. The lop-eared patriarch had 91 descendants, of whom 21 inherited his ears. Everyone affected had both ears affected. In this cup-eared family the earmark skipped no generation. Those who had the defect had a certain number of similar children. But those who escaped, in no case passed on the gene to children, grandchildren. So Dr. Potter concluded "There can be no doubt that the peculiar ears of this family depend upon a single dominant gene. . . . Our patient may expect to transmit ears which are abnormally formed to approximately one-half of her children. Her brothers and sisters who have similar ears will do likewise. Those who have normal ears will have children with normal ears and in succeeding generations the defect will not recur." This was significant because such malformations as polydactyly (extra fingers) often occur on only one hand, sometimes skip a generation.

These were not the only fascinating ears which Robert Carter Cook, editor of the Journal oj Heredity, fished out of the genetics grab bag. He also produced the ears of the Canright and Powell families. The ears of the Powells, starting with F. J. Powell, a retired merchant of West Lafayette, Ohio, are lobeless -- i.e., the "lobes" are fastened to the skin of the neck. The ear lobes of Harry Lee Canright, onetime a medical missionary at Chengtu, China, and of his family are free. Dr. Canright's free-lobed daughter married lobeless Eugene F. Powell, zoologist son of the West Lafayette Powells. The ears of their five sons and daughters have free lobes.

When Zoologist Powell, who teaches in the University of Nebraska, realized that lobelessness was being bred out of his family, he started an investigation. He found that one of Mrs. Powell's brothers married a lobeless woman. All their children had lobes. Zoologist Powell's lobeless brother also married a lobeless woman. Their children had no ear lobes. Therefore, he reasoned, free ear lobes are dominant characters, adherent lobes are recessive, intermarriage eliminates lobeless ears.

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