By Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com
Published: 22:52 GMT, 1 March 2019 | Updated: 23:06 GMT, 1 March 2019
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Scientists may finally have cracked the code to using DNA to pinpoint a specific individual from a set of identical twins.
Since it was first introduced to the courts in the 1980s, DNA analysis has transformed the way we approach criminal investigations.
But, despite more than 30 years of advancements since, there’s still one scenario that can stand in the way of nailing down the right suspect even when DNA is present: identical twins.
Identical twins arise from the same fertilized egg, and standard DNA tests are so-far unable to pinpoint the minute differences.
That means in cases where one twin commits a crime, it sometimes ends up that both walk free, as prosecutors are unable to conclude which of the two really did it.
Identical twins – or monozygotic (MZ) twins – may start out from the same egg, but each take on their own mutations as they develop. It’s these mutations that could help to reveal who in a pair is tied to a given DNA sample. Stock image
The identical twin problem has stood in the way of both criminal investigations and paternity tests, researchers explain in a new study published to the journal Plos One.
With their new test based on DNA sequencing, however, the team may finally have broken ground.
Instead of looking at hundreds or even thousands of mutated segments to spot the differences between twins, researchers behind the new study propose comparing their entire genomes.
The current techniques are ‘hampered by the fact that the two individuals usually coincides for the genetic markers tested,’ the researchers explain.
But thanks to recent advances in genome sequencing, it’s now possible to assess DNA in much greater detail than
