What would happen if.......?

Question

Okay so I was wondering..

If there was a set of IDENTICAL twin males (M) and a set of IDENTICAL twin females (F), and they married eachother.

MF

MF

and they each had a child, how much alike would the children look? I have been wondering this for a LONG time. Just curious.

(sorry I wasn't sure which section to put this in..)

Answer 1

If both sets of twins are truly identical, then the resulting cousins would actually be genetic brothers and sisters. But remember, a wide range of factors beyond straight forward genetics play a role in determining phenotypic characteristics of any organism.

Answer 2

Very much alike would be my answer. But since it's random I don't think you can ever be certain. It could also be different.

Answer 3

Thanks;

I've often wondered what would happen in such a case; and what if?... the twins then swapped partners?

The 'twins' article in Wikipedia is not much help; but it does explain that the environment may cause different genes in identical (monozygotic) twins to switch on or off; which could mean that subtle differences are passed on to the offspring. (For example, identical twins may have separate placenta while in the womb)

I suppose the offspring would be very similar; but with slight differences that would diverge with successive generations.

Also; would they tend to have identical twins themselves?  However, I think the factors that influence the splitting of a fertilized embryo in the womb are far more environmental than genetic; so identical twins might have only a slightly greater chance of giving birth to identical twins than other people.

Answer 4

you have to take into account the family ancestors.... the mix of genetic markers between the parents and grandparent of the boys, vs the same for the girls means there could be just about anything pop up .... even the kid with curly red hair!.... just because the MF and MF look alikes LOOK alike, they're carrying a whole bag of different genes.....