- Paternity Quiz
Problem: Who is NOT the father of my child?
The following is an edited version of an email exchange that occured after a student finished the Genetics section of Bio 113.

First Message from Student:
I am wondering how to find out blood type of my son...I am blood type A, ........the father is in sort of question...I am stressed to the max to figure out who is the father of this baby boy. What is the most common blood type and the most common donor and common receiver?

Answer to First Message by Professor Bio 113:
Blood type analysis can occasionally rule out a potential father (i.e. if the mother is type A and the child is type O, the father could not be type AB, but could be type A, B, or O), but is not a method that can be used to establish paternity.

If the paternity of your grandson needs to be established for legal reasons, such as establishing responsibility for child support, a DNA test would be the accepted method. There are commercial laboratories that will do the test for a fee (several hundred dollars). Blood samples would be required from the mother, child, and any alleged fathers.

Second Message from student:

Thanks so much for your prompt reply. Here is the scenario....paternity isn't going to be established...it is going to lay...for lack of a better expression. Remember, I am type A, my son is type B, we do not know the types of the two gentlemen in question...my question is what are the types that the fathers would have to be in order for my son to have his B blood?