A new study suggests that unrelated people who resemble each other may have genetic similarities and share DNA!
The study, conducted by the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona, examined 100 sets of unrelated people who look like each other, according to research published in the journal Cell Reports.
In addition to having similar habits and tastes, the pseudo twins had more genes in common than did sets of non-lookalikes, says lead author Dr. Manel Esteller.
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"We were able to see that these lookalike humans, in fact, are sharing several genetic variants," Esteller says. "They share these genetic variants that are related in a way that they have the shape of the nose, the eye, the mouth, the lips, and even the bone structure. And this was the main conclusion that genetics puts them together."
While the findings might be surprising, genetic similarities among people are probably nothing new, Esteller notes.
"In the world right now, there are so many people that eventually the system is producing humans with similar DNA sequences," he says. "This likely was always true, but now with the internet, it's a lot easier to find them."