Yes, identical twins share identical DNA, but there fingerprints are determined by the environment in the uterus,so no, identical twins do not have identical fingerprints. *****?**************************************************** 01-02-06, 12:26 PM methos Welcome to Answerpool, Brian. Take a look at the replies to a similar question here.
01-02-06, 02:36 PM Professor Leppi's answer is correct. For a little more detail, I found this article from forensic-evidence.com that states:
quote:
In the case of fingerprints, the genes determine the general characteristics of the patterns that are used for fingerprint classification. As the skin on the fingertip differentiates, it expresses these general characteristics. However, as a surface tissue, it is also in contact with the amniotic fluid in the uterus. The fingertips are also in contact with other parts of the fetus and the uterus, and their position in relation to uterus and the fetal body changes as the fetus moves on its own and in response to positional changes of the mother. Thus the microenvironment of the growing cells on the fingertip is in flux, and is always slightly different from hand to hand and finger to finger. It is this microenvironment that determines the fine detail of the fingerprint structure. While the differences in the microenvironment between fingers are small and subtle, their effect is amplified by the differentiating cells and produces the macroscopic differences that enable the fingerprints of twins to be differentiated.
Additional information on the mechanism of in utero fingerprint development, which is fixed by the 17th week of gestation, can be found in this article from LiveScience.com.
01-02-06, 04:37 PM FredPuli Can the wrong twin get arrested on DNA evidence? In Britain the police take a DNA sample from everyone arrested, adult or juvenile, and whether or not the person is ever charged or convicted. They keep the results on the national data base, regardless of the innocence or otherwise of the donor of the sample.(There are currently over 3,4 million such samples recorded ) So there's a chance of an innocent man being arrested and charged for an offence committed by his twin. The fingerprints are what will save him if his twin ever gets fingerprinted , we hope.
Here's as close as we've got, so far : He may be unlucky without himself ever having given a sample at all.In 1995 two men kidnapped and raped a young girl. Last year Leo Ainsby was arrested just for being drunk in public and the usual DNA swab taken on that arrest. It proved him to be one of the rapists from back in 1995. Unfortunately for his brother, a second DNA specimen from the rape in 1995 showed that the second rapist must have been very closely related to him. So the police went to his closest male relatives and, yes, the second attacker was his brother, Stephen, who had never come to notice of the police at all.
That's the trouble with DNA. It says too much about your family Wink
By the way,this 'invasion of our liberties', if such it is, has not been the subject of much protest. It has led to hundreds of offenders; they include 4 murderers, 3 rapists, 6 robbers and 4 sex offenders; being detected for unsolved crimes, many for offences of decades ago, a good example being a man stopped for a motoring offence in 2001 who proved to be the murderer of a child in 1968. It's got so if you are a rapist you'd best not drive too fast thirty years on Big Grin
01-02-06, 07:31 PM babthrower Of course if we carry the civil liberties position to an extreme, we would arrive at the point where we may not use photograph evidence either, because an innocent identical twin might be suspected of his/her twin's crime.
I went to school with two identical twin girls (very pretty girls, as it happens) who routinely would give the other twin's name if they were caught doing something wrong.
It didn't work at home, though, because one had a hairline scar from a fall as a child.
01-02-06, 10:01 PM bik74 Wow. Twins having same DNA I did not know. But they have different finger prints. Ok.
What about the third things that I was told here is unique for every person. I was told that evey human has a different....retina. Is it true for twins as well ? 01-03-06, 12:06 AM Professor Interesting question, bik. According to Link 1 and Link 2, no two eyes have the same retinal blood vessels patterns or iris pigmentation patterns. This is true even comparing left and right eyes in the same individual, as well as differences between identical twins.
01-09-06, 05:26 PM Bdoughty Thank you for half settling an argument. I more or less lost. Now I need to know why the difference in eyes and fingerprints but the DNA is the same.
If you mess around long enough on that site you will also find:
"Identical twins do not have the same fingerprints. Their fingerprints may be similar, but never identical, probably due to environmental differences both inside and outside the womb. This is why the police can use fingerprinting to identify people, even identical twins."
And, just for fun:
"If identical twins marry identical twins, their children will legally be cousins, but genetically will be full siblings."
01-10-06, 12:12 AM Professor Interesting article, colfuse. Smile It's not obvious that differences in mitochondrial DNA would have much effect on overall phenotype, since they only affect the mitochondria themselves (isn't that correct?). I found this case report about identical twins, only one of which had muscle disease (muscle cells are packed with mitochrondria):
quote: Single mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions are an important cause of mitochondrial disease. In many patients the mtDNA deletion is sporadic and appears to be limited to skeletal muscle. It is not established at which stage in development the mtDNA deletion occurs.
We studied identical twin brothers, one of whom presented with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia [abnormal gaze]. Southern blot analysis showed that the affected twin harboured high levels of a single 4115 bp mtDNA deletion in his muscle.
Using sensitive PCR based techniques we show that the identical mtDNA deletion is present in the muscle from the unaffected twin at very low levels, suggesting that the mtDNA deletion was present in the oocyte.
I also wonder if analog processes (as opposed to gene transcription and translation, which are essentially digital at the molecular level) during gestational development make for many of the differences in identical twins. Examples of analog processes would be chemical gradients and graded levels of gene activation, which are recognized features of development from the egg.
Intriguing stuff.
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