Question

Why do we resemble our family members but are not identical to them except in the case of monozygotic twins?

Answer 1

Genetics:

1. Genetics is the study of genes that are involved in carrying traits from the parents to offspring.
2. Members of the same family are similar as they belong to the same gene pool.
3. Even though we look similar, we are not identical.
4. This is due to the gene set inherited from the parents. Each zygote receives half of the gene set of each parent while the gene set received varies among them.
5. Meiosis is the cell division process that produces sex gametes that participate in forming offspring.
6. In meiosis, recombination and independent assortment of genes occur and thus genetic variation is introduced.
7. This produces unique combinations of genes in zygotes.
8. This is not the case observed in monozygotic twins as they develop from the splitting of a single fertilized embryo.