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Science Daily February 20, 2008 Despite some people’s previous beliefs, identical twins are not genetically the same. This new finding is of great benefit to people and it helps in the study of hereditary diseases and new ways to diagnose people. Scientists used to ask, “How can one identical twin have a genetic disease, but not the other?” Their answer used to be the environment the twin was in, but now studies are showing otherwise. Scientists have researched 19 pairs of identical twins. They have found that a number of their differences in their copy number variation DNA. Copy number variation (CNV) is when a set of encoding letters are missing or added. When that happens it is most likely not life threatening or unhealthy.

Some key points are being able to learn more about genetic diseases through studying identical twins. It can also help twins out when one twin has a disease, but the other does not. Through studying the CNV they can understand if the missing or added gene helps kick-off the disease in identical twins. Scientists can also learn more about the basic genetics of the certain genetic disease. Hopefully, through this, identical twins and other people can live a more healthy life.

Janelle Grant March 14, 2010