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/sci/ - Science & Math

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10655364 No.10655364 [Reply] [Original]

Barring radiation and random mutations. Of all the sperm the male can produce, and all of the female's eggs, can a twin of a child be born to the same parents at a later time? Are there finite combinations between two parents?

>> No.10655386

>>10655364
In terms of unique DNA? An absolute fuckload. Like 35 million or something? I can't remember the specific number. But same DNA doesn't mean same person, i.e. twins, so infinite.

>> No.10655395

>>10655386
So it is a finite number. But doesn't identical DNA mean they look the same, grow to the same height, same fingerprints, etc?

>> No.10655404

>>10655364
Well, human DNA consists of 46 chromosome pairs, 23 of which are inherited from either parent, all of which are a random selection of the 2 chromosomes in the corresponding pair held by the parent. So for a particular couple, there are 2^46 possible combinations of inherited chromosomes, or about 70 trillion.

>>10655395
>But doesn't identical DNA mean they look the same, grow to the same height, same fingerprints, etc?
It means they are as equal as identical twins. They will typically look similar to the point of being hard to distinguish by anyone who doesn't know them well, grow to a very similar height at a similar rate, and have similar but not identical fingerprints.

>> No.10655410

>>10655364
Theoretically, something more than 2^20,000. Assuming there are 20,000 human genes and they could be either from mom or dad each. This is not including other possibilities.

>>10655395
People with identical DNA can still have epigenetic differences.