Our fingerprints are a one-of-a-kind pattern, so unique to an individual that even identical twins don’t share them. And yet I’m here to tell you that you inherit part of your fingerprint from your parents. Huh?
If you look closely at your fingerprints, you’ll notice that their patterns are one of three main types: loops, whorls or arches.
If you were to look at your fingerprint under a microscope though you’d see that while the ridges on your fingers follow one of the patterns, there are small variations in them, like breaks, forks and islands.
While the general shape of your fingerprints is heritable, these small details, often called minutiae, are not. Why that is comes down to how fingerprints are formed.
When a fetus is about 7 weeks old, they begin to form pads on their hands and feet called volar pads. These pads only exist for a few weeks, because at around 10 weeks they start to be reabsorbed into the palms of the hands and feet.
Around this time, the very bottom layer of the epidermis begins to form folds due to pressures from the growing skin. These folds are the precursors to your finger ridges, or fingerprints, and the pattern they take depends on how much of the volar pad has been absorbed when they begin to form. If the volar pad is still very present, then you’ll develop a whorl pattern. If the volar pad is partially absorbed, you’ll form a loop pattern, and if it’s almost entirely absorbed, you’ll form an arch pattern.
So how do genetics come into this? Well, the rate of volar pad reabsorption and the specific timing of the creases in the epidermis appearing are genetically linked. However, these events only determine the general shape of the fingerprint. The minutiae are influenced by things such as the density of the amniotic fluid, where the fetus is positioned and what the fetus touches while in utero. Since every fetus will grow in a different environment, their minutiae will differ. Even twins that share a uterus will interact with their surroundings differently. So even if your fingerprint shape matches that of your parents, if you look closer, you’ll see the differences that make your prints uniquely yours.
Did you know that fingerprints aren’t only a human feature? To read about fingerprints in koalas, click here!
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