Are fingerprints and genetics related in any way?

Question

I mean, would my fingerprint have any similarity to my fathers, thus suggesting that a fingerprint is determined through genetics? And if not, how does the body determine what the fingerprint will look like?

Answer 1

No. A fingerprint is different i every single individual. Even identical twins have different fingerprint patterns =)

Answer 2

Actually, the answer is more complex than genetics. While it's true that fingerprints are essentially genetically determined, this determination occurs in utero during development of the skin of the embryo. During early development, the "skin" of the embryo is a single layer of cells called the ectoderm. Later in development, cells from the mesoderm and neural crest form layers just below the ectoderm and form the dermis (connective tissue) and melanocytes (pigment cells), respectively. Formation of the dermis requires chemical cues from the ectoderm, just as differentiation of the ectoderm into skin requires chemical cues from the underlying dermis. The ripples that form fingerprints are generated by adjusting these chemical cues in a pattern that is written into the connective tissue of the dermis. But the pattern has to be established all at once, such that after the skin is formed, the pattern is hard-wired into the dermis.

So, a simple cut of a shallow abrasion results in the skin using this pattern to reform the print. However, any trauma that damages the dermis, like a bad burn or a deep injury, will destroy the pattern in that area, and a deformed (randomized) print will result when the skin grows back over the injury. It is even possible, though extremely painful, to erase your fingerprints by burning your fingertips - I did this accidentally to my right middle finger when I was a child, and I still have a disordered blotch in the middle of that print. Of course that just makes my fingerprint that much more distinct, since the blotch is more random than simple whorls and arches. So, fingerprints are determined by the genome of the embryo, however the ability to reform fingerprints after skin damage is not controled by the genes but by the pattern of the dermis.