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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: IgorStrav on Friday 18 January 19 22:23 GMT (UK)

Title: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: IgorStrav on Friday 18 January 19 22:23 GMT (UK)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/dna-ancestry-kits-twins-marketplace-1.4980976

An interesting read and further evidence that ethnicity estimates should be treated with a large handful of salt.

Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: Mart 'n' Al on Friday 18 January 19 23:17 GMT (UK)
Fascinating and essential for anyone with an interest, but what is meant by "The raw data collected from both sisters' DNA is nearly exactly the same."?

Nearly exactly?

Martin
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: KGarrad on Friday 18 January 19 23:21 GMT (UK)
That's a definite maybe, then?! ;D ;D
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: Guy Etchells on Saturday 19 January 19 05:23 GMT (UK)
All it shows is most individuals who take a DNA test or who write about DNA do not understand DNA.

It might be worth reading-
https://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=244

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/do-identical-twins-have-identical-genes/


Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: Mowsehowse on Saturday 19 January 19 07:30 GMT (UK)
One of the comments below the article:
     Gary Smith says: Twins "start with identical genes, because each is formed from a single fertilised egg that splits into two embryos. But from that moment onwards, their DNA begins diverging. The DNA replication mechanism introduces about one new mutation for every 100 million base pairs copied, per generation.
There are around three billion base pairs in the human genome, so you would expect between 10 and 100 new mutations per person that occur early enough in embryonic development to be present in most cells in the body. Ordinary DNA tests won’t normally detect this because they only examine a short section of the DNA, in a region known to be highly variable between individuals. But if the entire genome were sequenced, these differences would show up."

I have no idea if that is a reasonable hypothesis or not........
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: Mart 'n' Al on Saturday 19 January 19 08:43 GMT (UK)
Gary Smith's comment sounds reasonable, but everything I've ever read says that identical twins have the same DNA. I could be convinced that GS is right.   It only needs one tiny mutation. I don't understand his comment about 10-100 mutations.

Martin
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: melba_schmelba on Saturday 19 January 19 13:52 GMT (UK)
Very interesting, the myheritage results seem like an outlier in comparison to 23andme and ancestry. Pity they don't give the LivingDNA percentages.
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: josey on Saturday 19 January 19 14:26 GMT (UK)
I don't follow his comment about 10-100 mutations.
Could it be a calculation from
The DNA replication mechanism introduces about one new mutation for every 100 million base pairs copied, per generation.
There are around three billion base pairs in the human genome,
I have no idea whether he is talking about human generations or generations of cells.
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: Mart 'n' Al on Saturday 19 January 19 14:34 GMT (UK)
Yes, reading it again I see. I think he means human 20-25 year generations.

Martin
Title: Re: Identical twin DNA testing - remarkable results
Post by: Deux Chevaux on Saturday 09 February 19 21:24 GMT (UK)
A link to the TV report of the same investigation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isa5c1p6aC0