Difference Between Twins and Clones
The twin and Clone have many differences. In a single pregnancy if two offspring are produced as they are called twins. The twins are of two types, identical twins and fraternal twins. Identical twins are the ones that are similar in both genotypes and phenotypes. They look similar to each other. Identical twins are born of the same zygote, which has come apart and formed two embryos. On the other hand fraternal twins are born when two egg are fertilized by two separate sperms. They do not look that similar and differ in their chromosomal invent. The clones develop from a single adult cell taken from the mother.
Twins
The twins were born when the egg is fertilized by the sperm and the zygote that has formed tears in half to form two embryos or when two different eggs are fertilized by two different sperm. These are known as identical or fraternal twins respectively. Identical twins as they grow from the same zygote are similar in their genotype and resemble each other perfectly. They are also of the same sex. Fraternal twins do not resemble one another in both genotypically as phenotypically like the other siblings. They are siblings of the same age. They can be all male twins, all female or male twins – female twins.
Clones
Cloning is a method for producing an organism with an exact genetic copy of another. Identical twins are natural clones. The clones are produced artificially in a Petri dish rather than in the mother’s womb. The embryo produced in the laboratory is manually separated into individual cells and are allowed to grow. Once the embryos are formed is implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother where they complete the cycle and finally delivered. As in the case of identical twins in this case also all the embryos come from the same zygote and are now genetically identical.
The other method is to produce clones using somatic cells. Somatic cells have two sets of chromosome unlike gametes that has only a single set of whole chromosome. Somatic nucleus is isolated and inserted into the gamete which the nucleus has been removed. The two chromosomes are made to merge with the use of some techniques and then it was seen to behave as the newly formed zygote.