Re: Faternal twins more closely related

Date: Sun May 6 14:48:21 2001
Posted By: Michael S. Robeson II, Grad student, Dept. of Biology, University of South Florida
Area of science: Genetics
ID: 988836163.Ge

Message:


     Well, unlike identical twins which arise from the spliting of a single 
fertilized egg, fraternal twins arise from two different fertilized eggs 
(i.e. each fertilized by a different sperm). These separate fertalized eggs 
have the same genetic relatedness as ordinary siblings (brothers and 
sisters). Thus only half of the genes in the twins are identical.
     Basically fraternal twins are no different than two siblings born 
several years apart. It was just that 2 eggs were released into the 
fallopian tube of the female instead of one.
Hope this helps!
-Mike

Reference:
Hartl DL, Jones EW (1998) Genetics : principles and analysis. Jones and 
Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, Mass. pp 682.

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