The key difference between natural and artificial twinning is that natural twinning occurs naturally inside the womb of the mother parent while artificial twinning takes place in the lab.
Twins are produced by either natural or artificial twinning. In order to produce twins, the embryo should split into two. Then those two cells divide and develop into individuals who are genetically identical. Natural twinning occurs naturally inside the womb of a mother while artificial twinning takes place in the lab inside the Petri dishes. Artificial twinning mimics the natural process of twinning. The splitting of the embryo is done manually in artificial twinning. It is considered to be safer than natural twinning.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Natural Twinning
3. What is Artificial Twinning
4. Similarities Between Natural and Artificial Twinning
5. Side by Side Comparison – Natural vs Artificial Twinning in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is Natural Twinning?
Natural twinning is the process of producing identical twins naturally. The egg has to be fertilized with a sperm first. Afterwards, the zygote replicates and divides and then splits into two identical cells. The split cells then continue to divide and form two separate embryos. This whole process takes place inside the womb of the mother. Embryos are identical, and then they grow into two individuals.
What is Artificial Twinning?
Artificial embryo twinning is a process of producing twins in the lab. This process mimics the natural twinning process. But, it takes place in the lab and needs a surrogate mother for the development of individuals until birth. The early embryo is separated into two identical cells inside a petri dish. The splitting of cells is done manually. Then they are allowed to develop for a short period of time in Petri dishes. Then the embryos are placed in the surrogate mother. Inside the surrogate mother, embryos continue to grow and develop into individuals until birth. Since both embryos are from the same fertilized egg, they are genetically identical.
Artificial twinning is a simple way of cloning. It was first successfully conducted in 1885. Artificial twinning is considered to be safer than natural twining since it shows a low risk of pregnancy and childbirth problems.
What are the Similarities Between Natural and Artificial Twinning?
- Natural twining and artificial twinning produce genetically identical plants or animals.
- Both processes produce more than one offspring.
What is the Difference Between Natural and Artificial Twinning?
Natural twinning is the process of producing twins naturally inside the mother womb. Artificial twinning, on the other hand, is the production of twins in the lab. So, this is the key difference between natural and artificial twinning. Splitting of the embryo takes place naturally in natural twinning while it is done manually in artificial twinning. Moreover, artificial twinning is considered to be safer than natural twining since it shows a low risk of pregnancy and childbirth problems.
The following table summarizes the difference between natural and artificial twinning.
Summary – Natural vs Artificial Twinning
Both natural twinning and artificial twinning produce identical individuals or clones. The key difference between natural and artificial twinning is that natural twinning takes place inside the womb of the mother while artificial twinning takes place in the lab inside the Petri plates. Moreover, splitting of the embryo into two takes place naturally in natural twinning while the splitting of the embryo is done manually in artificial twinning. The artificial twinning is a more safe procedure since the risk of pregnancy and childbirth problems are low compared to natural twinning. Thus, this summarizes the difference between natural and artificial twinning.
Reference:
1. “Artificial Embryo Twinning.” Cloning Of Human Organs. Web. 11 Sept. 2020. Available here.
2. “Science of Cloning.” Animal Cloning. Web. 11 Sept. 2020. Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “1628843” (CC0) via Pixabay