Nature Communications (Sep 2021)
Identical twins carry a persistent epigenetic signature of early genome programming
- Jenny van Dongen,
- Scott D. Gordon,
- Allan F. McRae,
- Veronika V. Odintsova,
- Hamdi Mbarek,
- Charles E. Breeze,
- Karen Sugden,
- Sara Lundgren,
- Juan E. Castillo-Fernandez,
- Eilis Hannon,
- Terrie E. Moffitt,
- Fiona A. Hagenbeek,
- Catharina E. M. van Beijsterveldt,
- Jouke Jan Hottenga,
- Pei-Chien Tsai,
- BIOS Consortium,
- Genetics of DNA Methylation Consortium,
- Josine L. Min,
- Gibran Hemani,
- Erik A. Ehli,
- Franziska Paul,
- Claudio D. Stern,
- Bastiaan T. Heijmans,
- P. Eline Slagboom,
- Lucia Daxinger,
- Silvère M. van der Maarel,
- Eco J. C. de Geus,
- Gonneke Willemsen,
- Grant W. Montgomery,
- Bruno Reversade,
- Miina Ollikainen,
- Jaakko Kaprio,
- Tim D. Spector,
- Jordana T. Bell,
- Jonathan Mill,
- Avshalom Caspi,
- Nicholas G. Martin,
- Dorret I. Boomsma
Affiliations
- Jenny van Dongen
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Scott D. Gordon
- Queensland Institute of Medical Research Berghofer
- Allan F. McRae
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland
- Veronika V. Odintsova
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Hamdi Mbarek
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Charles E. Breeze
- Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences
- Karen Sugden
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University
- Sara Lundgren
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki
- Juan E. Castillo-Fernandez
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, Kings College London
- Eilis Hannon
- University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter
- Terrie E. Moffitt
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University
- Fiona A. Hagenbeek
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Catharina E. M. van Beijsterveldt
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Jouke Jan Hottenga
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Pei-Chien Tsai
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, Kings College London
- BIOS Consortium
- Genetics of DNA Methylation Consortium
- Josine L. Min
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol
- Gibran Hemani
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol
- Erik A. Ehli
- Avera Institute for Human Genetics
- Franziska Paul
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, A*STAR
- Claudio D. Stern
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London
- Bastiaan T. Heijmans
- Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center
- P. Eline Slagboom
- Molecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center
- Lucia Daxinger
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center
- Silvère M. van der Maarel
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center
- Eco J. C. de Geus
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Gonneke Willemsen
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Grant W. Montgomery
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland
- Bruno Reversade
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, A*STAR
- Miina Ollikainen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki
- Jaakko Kaprio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki
- Tim D. Spector
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, Kings College London
- Jordana T. Bell
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, Kings College London
- Jonathan Mill
- University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter
- Avshalom Caspi
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University
- Nicholas G. Martin
- Queensland Institute of Medical Research Berghofer
- Dorret I. Boomsma
- Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25583-7
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 14
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying how monozygotic (or identical) twins arise are yet to be determined. Here, the authors investigate this in an epigenome-wide association study, showing that monozygotic twinning has a characteristic DNA methylation signature in adult somatic tissues.
