Question

Which of the following pairs of people would provide the most useful information to geneticists regarding the heritability of a certain trait

Dizygotic twins separated into different household soon after birth
Monozygotic twins separated into different households soon after birth
Dizygotic twins raised in the same household since birth
monozygotic twins raised in the same household since birth

Answer 1

The right answer is the second option - Monozygotic twins separated into different households soon after birth.

Explanation :

• The third and fourth options can be eliminated in the beginning itself. This is because, sharing the same household means raising the twins in the same environment. Therefore, in these two scenarios the influence of environmental factors cannot be removed from the heritability of the trait as the twins are sharing a common environment.
• The first option is also not suitable. This is because dizygotic twins (two siblings who come from separate eggs and are fertilised by separate sperms) will not have as much similarity in their genetic make up as compared to monozygotic twins (formed when one zygote, made with one egg and one sperm, splits into two). Monozygotic twins share 100% similarity when it comes to their genome and therefore are better suited to study heritability of a certain trait as compared to dizygotic twins.
• Therefore, the best suited answer is the second option.