Differences like twins and eggs

Genetic studies of co-identical twins show that mutations in genes can cause fish to face different fate.

The identical, identical-looking twins may not be as genetically similar as people think. Although twins with eggs should have shared the entire DNA, they actually had hundreds of gene changes in the early stages of development. As a consequence, although their appearance is the same, their fate can follow two different paths.

The new finding, presented at the American Gene Association conference, partly explains why a member of the twins has eggs with cancer while the other is still healthy. The report also suggests that such genetic changes are common.'This situation is not rare' , The Huffington Post quoted expert Rui Li of McGill University (Canada).

Twins with eggs are not the same as people think

While previous studies often pay attention to genetic changes - also known as mutations in eggs and sperm, which can turn into descendants - very few studies focused on cell mutations. can. These mutations, also known as transcription errors, can occur in the early stages of embryonic development. But since they are not on the fetal sex cells (X or Y chromosomes), they cannot be transferred to the new generation.

Some reports show that chemical changes, or postpartum effects, can alter identical genes in later years, a factor that shows that twins are not completely homogeneous.