Results from a study conducted at the University of Alabama at Birhamgham indicate that identical (monozygotic) twins do not actually have identical DNA. Instead, even identical twins vary in the number of copies they have of a particular gene.
If this is true it might mean abandoning the notion that the environment plays a critical role in a number of diseases and conditions that we know to be largely genetic.
For example, we know that genes are very important in autism, but because an autistic's identical twin has a ~35% chance of being neurologically typical an important role for environmental factors has been reserved.
Article at the NY Times.
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