Even if they are not related, people who look alike share a lot of the same DNA?

Are there two people in the world who look extremely similar?

Of course, twins are a good example, or more precisely, identical twins. It is natural for identical twins to look alike, because they come from the same fertilized egg, and the two embryos receive exactly the same chromosomes and genetic material. Since a person's appearance is determined by genes, then think about it the other way around. If two people who are not related by blood look very similar, does that mean they have the same genes? No one has ever systematically studied this question in the past, because it is a rare opportunity to find two people who look very similar in the vast sea of ​​people.

In the past, due to the underdeveloped information technology, it was not easy to find two people who looked similar, but now the situation is different.

Nowadays, everyone has access to the Internet, and most people have posted their photos online, which makes it much easier to find similar people. Researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia once conducted a statistical analysis. They divided facial features into eight parts and searched for identical faces online based on the measurements of these eight features. The final result showed that the probability of finding a similar face is about one in a trillion. This shows that if you can meet someone who looks like you in a vast crowd, it is a great fate.

This extremely low probability means that in genetic research, "strangers with similar faces" are destined not to find many research subjects.

Fortunately, a Canadian artist has been searching for strangers who look similar since 1999 and has established a database on the Internet for this purpose. His move has provided great convenience for genetic researchers. On August 23, 2022, a very detailed research report was published in the famous scientific journal Cell Reports. The report shows that as long as two people look similar, even if they have no blood relationship, they have extremely high similarities in DNA, height, weight and even behavior.

The study used the database established by the Canadian artist and involved a total of 64 people, or 32 pairs of participants with similar appearances.

The researchers collected saliva from all participants to obtain their DNA, and then asked them to fill out a very detailed questionnaire, which mainly involved the participants' lifestyle, etc. After that, the researchers screened the participants and selected 16 pairs of participants from the 32 pairs through a facial recognition algorithm. The facial features of these 16 pairs of participants were highly similar.

The researchers analyzed the DNA of the 16 pairs of participants and compared the questionnaires. The results showed that 9 of the 16 pairs, or 18 people, had a lot in common in all aspects.

First, DNA analysis revealed that there were 19,277 common gene mutations in 3,730 genes among the nine pairs of participants, and these gene mutations were closely associated with facial and physical features. Do these same gene mutations affect only the similarity of appearance? Obviously not.

Judging from the actual results of the questionnaire, these 9 pairs of participants not only look similar, but also have highly similar height, weight and blood type.

Not only that, but they also have many similarities in behavior and living habits, such as smoking, drinking, keeping pets, and education level. This high degree of similarity in all aspects is incredible. This study is of great significance in genetics, and it has also triggered people's thinking about life. What determines everything we do, our likes and dislikes, and our behavior? Is it our experience or our genes? Perhaps the role of genes in our bodies has always been underestimated by us.

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