Just not the face, some doppelgängers might have same DNA also: Study

It might come as a shock that doppelgängers do not only have similar faces, but their genetics may also be similar.

New research published on Tuesday (August 23) sheds light upon those with striking resemblances. It says they might share many genetic variants, beyond those that shape the appearance of the face and body.

As per the research, the lookalikes may even have similarities in other general aspects of their life and personality traits.

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A paper titled "Look-alike humans identified by facial recognition algorithms show genetic similarities" is published in the journal Cell Reports. It mentions that doppelgängers tend to share some of the same genetic variants associated with both physical and behavioural or lifestyle traits.

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A team of researchers characterised in detail a set of "look-alike" humans, who are defined by facial recognition algorithms, for their multi-omics landscape.

And after the analysis, they can report that these individuals share similar genotypes and differ in their DNA methylation and microbiome landscape.

Manel Esteller, a researcher from the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain and his colleagues explored their interest to understand the other similarities these pairs might share.

To conduct the research, the team used images of 32 sets of doubles from Canadian artist François Brunelle, who has reportedly been documenting doppelgangers for years.

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The genes were then compared by the team. They also compared the behaviours of unrelated twins around the world.

Their images ran through facial recognition software in order to analyse the similarities between each pair.

Out of the total, 16 couples showed uncanny resemblance to each other, so much that they looked like real-life identical twins.

After that, the researcher tested the pairs with similarities using sophisticated DNA tests and lifestyle surveys. They yearned to find similarities other than their appearance.

"These results not only provide insights about the genetics that determine our face but also might have implications for the establishment of other human anthropometric properties and even personality characteristics," a part of the study read.

Esteller said: "This unique set of samples has allowed us to study how genomics, epigenomics, and microbiomics can contribute to human resemblance."

In an email to Gizmodo, Esteller said, "The results were that these lookalike humans had similar genetic sequences and are therefore like virtual twins, while their epigenetic and microorganism flora profiles differentiate them."

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The study mentioned that the doppelgangers were more likely to have similar levels of education, height, weight and even smoking history.

For 100% accuracy in the results, the researchers also made sure that they check whether or not the doppelgangers were closely related.

The study noted that they might share the same origin, country or ethnic background but they were apparently not related. The team found that only one pair might have had a common ancestor but that too in the last several hundred years.

Esteller said, "We think that the generation of some genetic similarities between these couples occurred by random chance. There are so many people on the planet that the system is repeating itself—the combinations of the genome are no longer infinite."

He added, “Thus, nature is very strong, but nurture tunes up the genome a little bit."

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