Saturday Genetics Quiz #32: Shared Genes Between Siblings
This week’s genetics quiz question is from an ongoing Ask a Geneticist feature at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California.
Help! I cannot seem to grasp why siblings are said to be 50% alike genetically when humans are said to be, say, 85% the same genetically as mice.
An excerpt of the comprehensive answer from Stanford University’s Dr. Aaron Shafer:
When scientists say a mouse is 85% the same as we are, they mean that biochemically, we are that alike. Using this measure, siblings are actually 99.95% the same. The 50% refers more to the amount of DNA we get from mom and the amount we get from dad.
My name is Elizabeth and I attend St. Stephens School. I am currently working on a science report on the digestive system and had a few questions. I was wondering if y’all could help me out or anything . . . send me a helpful site or answer the questions, anything would help. You can reach me at elizabeth.papp@sstx.org. Thank You very much,
Elizabeth Papp