Mixed twins are fraternal or non-identical twins born to multiracial families which differ in skin color and other traits considered to be racial features.
From a biological point of view, the differences in these fraternal or dizygotic twins from two biracial parents are not surprising. In humans, a relatively small number of genes are thought to be responsible for human skin color. Different alleles or gene variants code for differences in the melanin found within the skin. Within some groups are high frequencies of dark skin alleles, while others have high frequencies of light skin alleles, for example. The parents of such twins, who are typically both of mixed race, have a combination of alleles for light and dark skin in their genome.
Each sperm or egg cell possesses a random selection of genes from its mother or father. While not the most probable event, a sperm or egg may randomly acquire, for example, mostly alleles that confer light skin coloration or mostly alleles that confer dark skin coloration. In such cases, fraternal twins can differ from each other quite dramatically in terms of skin color or other physical characteristics.
Numerous sets of mixed twins have been born. [1] [2] [3]
Much more rarely, mixed twins can arise as a result of heteropaternal superfecundation. [4] [3]
While mixed twins are not as common in popular culture as identical ones, there are exceptions.
In the 1970s reboot of Wonder Woman , the white-skinned Diana has a black-skinned twin sister named Nubia, who was kidnapped at birth by Ares and is historically DC Comics' first black superheroine. Though Nubia's story has been retconned over the years since her first appearance, her original identity as Diana's fraternal twin sister was retold in the 2021 young adult graphic novel Nubia: Real One .
In the 2010 young adult novel The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier, the biracial King twin sisters-the white Minerva and the black Keira-deal with prejudice when their black maternal grandmother invites them to compete for the title of Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America. [5]
Mendelian inheritance is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularized by William Bateson. These principles were initially controversial. When Mendel's theories were integrated with the Boveri–Sutton chromosome theory of inheritance by Thomas Hunt Morgan in 1915, they became the core of classical genetics. Ronald Fisher combined these ideas with the theory of natural selection in his 1930 book The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, putting evolution onto a mathematical footing and forming the basis for population genetics within the modern evolutionary synthesis.
Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics, exposure to the sun, disorders, or some combination thereof. Differences across populations evolved through natural selection or sexual selection, because of social norms and differences in environment, as well as regulations of the biochemical effects of ultraviolet radiation penetrating the skin.
Twin studies are studies conducted on identical or fraternal twins. They aim to reveal the importance of environmental and genetic influences for traits, phenotypes, and disorders. Twin research is considered a key tool in behavioral genetics and in related fields, from biology to psychology. Twin studies are part of the broader methodology used in behavior genetics, which uses all data that are genetically informative – siblings studies, adoption studies, pedigree, etc. These studies have been used to track traits ranging from personal behavior to the presentation of severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
Cat coat genetics determine the coloration, pattern, length, and texture of feline fur. The variations among cat coats are physical properties and should not be confused with cat breeds. A cat may display the coat of a certain breed without actually being that breed. For example, a Neva Masquerade could wear point coloration, the stereotypical coat of a Siamese.
Melanism is the congenital excess of melanin in an organism resulting in dark pigment.
Bay is a hair coat color of horses, characterized by a reddish-brown or brown body color with a black point coloration on the mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Bay is one of the most common coat colors in many horse breeds.
Point coloration is animal coat coloration with a pale body and relatively darker extremities, i.e. the face, ears, feet, tail, and scrotum. It is most recognized as the coloration of Siamese and related breeds of cat, but can be found in dogs, rabbits, rats, sheep, guinea pigs and horses as well.
A gray horse has a coat color characterized by progressive depigmentation of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike some equine dilution genes and some other genes that lead to depigmentation, gray does not affect skin or eye color. Gray horses may be born any base color, depending on other color genes present. White hairs begin to appear at or shortly after birth and become progressively more prevalent as the horse ages as white hairs become intermingled with hairs of other colors. Graying can occur at different rates—very quickly on one horse and very slowly on another. As adults, most gray horses eventually become completely white, though some retain intermixed light and dark hairs.
The cream gene is responsible for a number of horse coat colors. Horses that have the cream gene in addition to a base coat color that is chestnut will become palomino if they are heterozygous, having one copy of the cream gene, or cremello, if they are homozygous. Similarly, horses with a bay base coat and the cream gene will be buckskin or perlino. A black base coat with the cream gene becomes the not-always-recognized smoky black or a smoky cream. Cream horses, even those with blue eyes, are not white horses. Dilution coloring is also not related to any of the white spotting patterns.
The dun gene is a dilution gene that affects both red and black pigments in the coat color of a horse. The dun gene lightens most of the body while leaving the mane, tail, legs, and primitive markings the shade of the undiluted base coat color. A dun horse always has a dark dorsal stripe down the middle of its back, usually has a darker face and legs, and may have transverse striping across the shoulders or horizontal striping on the back of the forelegs. Body color depends on the underlying coat color genetics. A classic "bay dun" is a gray-gold or tan, characterized by a body color ranging from sandy yellow to reddish brown. Duns with a chestnut base may appear a light tan shade, and those with black base coloration are a smoky gray. Manes, tails, primitive markings, and other dark areas are usually the shade of the undiluted base coat color. The dun gene may interact with all other coat color alleles.
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs. It is one of the most common horse coat colors, seen in almost every breed of horse.
Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.
Nubia is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as an ally of Wonder Woman. Historically, she is DC Comics' first black female superhero. Originally introduced in 1973 as Diana's long-lost black fraternal twin sister, today the character is depicted as one of Wonder Woman's oldest and closest friends. Created by Robert Kanigher and Don Heck, Nubia debuted in 1973's Wonder Woman #204 and appeared intermittently throughout Wonder Woman's Bronze Age adventures.
Black hair is the darkest and most common of all human hair colors globally, due to large populations with this trait. This hair type contains a much more dense quantity of eumelanin pigmentation in comparison to other hair colors, such as brown, blonde and red. In English, various types of black hair are sometimes described as soft-black, raven black, or jet-black. The range of skin colors associated with black hair is vast, ranging from the palest of light skin tones to dark skin. Black-haired humans can have dark or light eyes.
Genetics is the study of genes and tries to explain what they are and how they work. Genes are how living organisms inherit features or traits from their ancestors; for example, children usually look like their parents because they have inherited their parents' genes. Genetics tries to identify which traits are inherited and to explain how these traits are passed from generation to generation.
Light skin is a human skin color that has a low level of eumelanin pigmentation as an adaptation to environments of low UV radiation. Due to migrations of people in recent centuries, light-skinned populations today are found all over the world. People with light skin pigmentation are often referred to as "white" although these usages can be ambiguous in some countries where they are used to refer specifically to certain ethnic groups or populations.
Seal brown is a hair coat color of horses characterized by a near-black body color; with black points, the mane, tail and legs; but also reddish or tan areas around the eyes, muzzle, behind the elbow and in front of the stifle. The term is not to be confused with "brown", which is used by some breed registries to refer to either a seal brown horse or to a dark bay without the additional characteristics of seal brown.
Zygosity is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism.
Tortoiseshell is a cat coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell pattern. Like tortoiseshell-and-white or calico cats, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.
Flaxen is a genetic trait in which the mane and tail of chestnut-colored horses are noticeably lighter than the body coat color, often a golden blonde shade. Manes and tails can also be a mixture of darker and lighter hairs. Certain horse breeds such as the Haflinger carry flaxen chestnut coloration as a breed trait. It is seen in chestnut-colored animals of other horse breeds that may not be exclusively chestnut.