The same DNA...?

Question

My boyfriend and I were watching a television show about conjoined twins; he came up with the question, "I wonder.. what is the stance on the DNA of both babies? Do both of them have separate DNA or do they share it..? CAN they even share it?"

Just wanted some insight, it's a interesting question.

Answer 1

if the twins are conjoined, it does not mean that they are identical. the two identical twins are conjoined, then they have the same DNA. however, it two fraternal twins are conjoined, they have different DNA. this could happen because the formation of twins and conjoining do not necessarily relate to each other. they are two different process with different causes. twins could be formed in two ways: (1) a fertilized egg split into two resulting into two embryos/ (2) two eggs fertilize at the same time resulting in two embryos.
conjoining however usually occurs when there is not enough space in the uterus or the embryos are too close together for some reason. under there circumstances, the two embryos may fuse together at some point (point of conjoining). this results in conjoined twins. therefore, conjoined twins may have same or different DNA depending on whether they are identical or fraternal.

Answer 2

Any parent of identical twins will tell you - there is no such thing as identical. Each twin has his or her own separate personality, and many physical differences. They share the same DNA, but they are not Xerox or carbon copies of each other, and that can make all the difference!

Identical twins share the same DNA - but do not have identical DNA. When the egg splits into two halves to form identical twins, the DNA may not divide equally between the two cells. The basic concept is similar to when you cut an apple in half, the two halves may not look the same.
I don't want to get to complicated with the explanation, but DNA differences of identical twins revolve around the mitochondrial DNA (DNA that is not located in the nucleus of a cell).

Mitochondrial is DNA passed on to the child by Mom. A fertilized egg will have Mom's mitochondrial DNA, half of Mom's nuclear DNA, and half of Dad's nuclear DNA. When the fertilized egg splits into two, the twins will each have identical nuclear DNA, but not EXACTLY identical mitochondrial DNA. Physical differences in identical twins are contributed, in part, to how much and how similar the mitochondrial DNA each twin inherited from Mom expresses itself.

Environmental factors both prenatal (for instance, one twin having more room in the womb, viruses, genetic missteps, Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, etc.) and after the babies are born (from something as minor as appetite to illness or accidents). Prenatal developmental differences can mean that one twin didn't quite "finish" a developmental stage that his or her twin did.

This is the same for conjoined twins : )

Answer 3

yeah both babies have separate DNA's and are jioned by parts of the body at birth...........Conjoined twins form in two ways. The first is fission, in which the fertilized egg splits partially, resulting in two-to-one type conjoined twins, i.e. Dicephalus twins. The second is fusion, a more common type of conjoined twinning, is when a fertilized egg completely seperates, but stem cells (which search for similar cells) find like-stem cells on the other twin and fuses the twins together. This results in single and relative organ sharing, i.e. Thorapagus twins....eg Chang and Eng were joined by a band of flesh, cartilage,and their shared liver at the torso.
One thing i for sure is that they can never share the same DNA......

Answer 4

some conjoined twins as well a identical twins do share the same DNA i had a friend who was a identical twin and his girlfriend had slept with him and his brother when they did the DNA on them to see who was the father of her baby it came back that they both were because they have the same DNA

Answer 5

Conjoined twins occur when the egg doesn't completely separate in utero. When the egg completely separates, you have identical twins. In both situations, two babies are the result of one egg. Therefore, they will have exactly the same DNA.

On the other hand, fraternal twins are the result of two individual eggs being fertilized in utero simultaneously, resulting in twins with different DNA as well as different physical attributes.

Answer 6

comparable twins are one fertilized egg that splits. So, they have the comparable DNA. Male comparable twins would be precise replicas. lady comparable twins can selection slightly. this would be a consequence of receiving 2 x chromosomes, one from the mother and one from the daddy. for the period of embryo progression, between the xs in each and each cellular will become inactive. Then because of the fact the toddler develops, the cells mirror. One lady twin can choose the X from the mother, on an identical time as the different would desire to choose the X from the daddy. they're going to nonetheless look comparable, yet there is user-friendly variations.

Answer 7

If the conjoined twins are identical, they will have near-identical DNA (with some possible minor mutations).

If the conjoined twins are fraternal (more rare, but it does happen), they will have different DNA.

Answer 8

It very possible that conjoined twins have the same DNA.

Answer 9

Conjoined twins are two people. Each person has his own DNA. In fact, each cell in each person has its own DNA.

Of course, identical twins started out as a single zygote, so identical twins have identical DNA. But they still each have their own DNA.

Think of it like this. If you and a friend went shopping and you each bought the same kind of hat, do you each have your own hat? Yes.

Answer 10

Conjoined twins are identical twins (zygote that separated after conception) that never fully separated. So yes, they would have the same DNA.