eli5 why do identical twins have the same DNA but not the same fingerprints?
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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.
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.
Fingerprints are the result of interactions with amniotic fluid and “rough” surfaces in the womb. Identical twins cannot, by definition, have identical fingerprints, because in order to do so, they would have had to occupy the same space in the womb while they were growing, not just have identical DNA.
Fingerprints are the result of interactions with amniotic fluid and “rough” surfaces in the womb. Identical twins cannot, by definition, have identical fingerprints, because in order to do so, they would have had to occupy the same space in the womb while they were growing, not just have identical DNA.
when you bake the same cake twice using the same ingredients will the be identical?
when you bake the same cake twice using the same ingredients will the be identical?
Throw a rock in a bucket of paint such that the splash lands on a white canvas.
Now, set up another canvas and bucket of paint, and throw a rock again.
The two splashes of paint look pretty similar, but they’re nowhere near identical.
You followed the same instructions both times, but got different results due to tiny variations in the circumstances.
Genetics works the same way.
Throw a rock in a bucket of paint such that the splash lands on a white canvas.
Now, set up another canvas and bucket of paint, and throw a rock again.
The two splashes of paint look pretty similar, but they’re nowhere near identical.
You followed the same instructions both times, but got different results due to tiny variations in the circumstances.
Genetics works the same way.
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