Posted Sep 30, 2022 6:05 AM
Since 1999, Canadian artist François Brunelle , whose resemblance to actor Rowan Atkinson (Mister Bean) is touted, has taken to photographing look-alikes. A wealth of information for researchers at Barcelona’s Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute who wanted to learn more about the roots of this similarity in traits between these unrelated human doubles (Cell Reports, August 2022). Some 32 “couples” from Brunelle took part in the game: biometric questionnaire, complete lifestyle, salivary DNA sampling. Conclusion: the resemblance is not the result of chance, but rather that of genetics. These “twins” by traits also bear certain similarities in their genotype (set of genes). On the other hand, they are distinguished by their epigenome (the multifactorial expression of genes) and their microbiome (the bacteria present in our organism). The researchers also mention correlations between certain physical (weight, height) and behavioral (smoking, education) traits.
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