Two sperms of a man fuse with two eggs of a woman. The twins formed are:
2024
Two sperms of a man fuse with two eggs of a woman. The twins formed are:
- A.
identical
- B.
fraternal
- C.
may be identical or fraternal
- D.
always conjoint
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Twins arise from one of two distinct biological pathways. Monozygotic (identical) twins begin when a single egg fertilized by a single sperm forms one zygote that later splits into two embryos, so both twins carry near-identical genetic material and are always the same sex. Dizygotic (fraternal) twins begin when two separate eggs, each fertilized by a separate sperm, form two independent zygotes that develop side by side; these twins share roughly half their genes, exactly like ordinary siblings, and may be the same or different sex.
Here, two sperm cells fuse with two separate egg cells — two independent fertilization events producing two separate zygotes. That is precisely the dizygotic pathway, so the twins formed are fraternal.
This also rules out the other descriptions offered:
"identical" needs only one egg and one sperm forming a single zygote that splits later; starting from two separate eggs and two separate sperm cannot produce this outcome.
"may be identical or fraternal" fits only when the fertilization mechanism is left unspecified; the stem explicitly names two separate eggs fertilized by two separate sperm, which fixes one determinate outcome rather than leaving it open.
"always conjoint" describes a rare variant of the single-zygote pathway, where one fertilized egg begins to split but stops short of full separation — unrelated to two independent fertilization events.