Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] cloning

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 5 Oct 2006, Christian M. Cepel wrote:

> If the crooked little finger is a phenotypic expression of a genotypic 
> encoding, it would absolutely be present in your clone.  There is none 
> of the random recombinant sampling you experience when the DNA encoded 
> into the sperm or egg.  WYSIWYG.  In a clone, any phenotypic expression 
> would be the exact same.

Clarification:  We have a concept called "penetrance."  The penetrance of 
a certain genotype for a certain phenotype is the probability that you 
will have the phenotype if you have the genotype.  Twins always have the 
same genotype.  So, if penetrance of the genotype is high enough, and one 
twin has the phenotype, the other twin can be virtually guaranteed to have 
the phenotype too.  But with MZ twins you also have similarity in 
environment and in all genotypes, no matter how slightly relevant, so MZ 
twins will be alike even more often than you might think based on studies 
of certain genotypes in unrelated people.  Sometimes the age of onset, for 
example, is extremely similar in an MZ twin pair (e.g., two twins living 
many miles apart have their first heart attacks just a few minutes apart). 
There are lots of eerie little similarities like that that we don't really 
understand (we're not even sure that they are as statistically anomolous 
as they seem to be).

Mike

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