eli5 why do identical twins have the same DNA but not the same fingerprints?
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Fingerprints develop in the womb as a result of outside influences, not totally as a result of genetics, although there may be a general similarity of features.
Genes are the blueprint, but things are affected by environmental factors leading to doffent expression of tjose genes
Lets say you throw the same paint at two walls, the same amount, at the same exact type of wall, the same exact way. That’s your DNA. What you get is two different splotches of paint because you cant control how the paint flies through the air. Those are environmental factors. Your fingerprints are just random splotches of paint basically.
Fingerprints develop in the womb as a result of outside influences, not totally as a result of genetics, although there may be a general similarity of features.
Genes are the blueprint, but things are affected by environmental factors leading to doffent expression of tjose genes
Lets say you throw the same paint at two walls, the same amount, at the same exact type of wall, the same exact way. That’s your DNA. What you get is two different splotches of paint because you cant control how the paint flies through the air. Those are environmental factors. Your fingerprints are just random splotches of paint basically.
I can make two apple pies following the same exact recipe, but they still could look slightly different because of slight variations in the oven, or miniscule variations in the ingredients, or any number of other things that aren’t accounted for in the recipe.
Same thing for identical twins.
Think of snowflakes. Snowflakes are unique, yet they’re made from the same thing, in the same environment, at the same time. Your skin is a giant snowflake.
I can make two apple pies following the same exact recipe, but they still could look slightly different because of slight variations in the oven, or miniscule variations in the ingredients, or any number of other things that aren’t accounted for in the recipe.
Same thing for identical twins.
Fingerprints are like zebra stripes or leopard pattern, there are no two identical animals in nature. Such patterns are established by a [Turing reaction-diffusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_pattern) system. When there are two diffusible substances (e.g. two different kinds of molecules or cells) they interact with each other and generate a periodic pattern. “The fingerprints ridge formation occurs as a set of waves spreading from variable initiation sites defined by the local signaling environments and anatomical intricacies of the digit, with the propagation and meeting of these waves determining the type of pattern that forms.” ([link](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00045-4)) Probably the easiest analogy is the wave interference pattern you get when you drop two or more stones in a pond.
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