Monozygotic (MZ) twins and higher-order multiples arise when a zygote splits during pre-implantation stages of development. The mechanisms underpinning this event have remained a mystery. Because MZ twinning rarely runs in families, the leading hypothesis is that it occurs at random. Here, we show that MZ twinning is strongly associated with a stable DNA methylation signature in adult somatic tissues. This signature spans regions near telomeres and centromeres, Polycomb-repressed regions and heterochromatin, genes involved in cell-adhesion, WNT signaling, cell fate, and putative human metastable epialleles. Our study also demonstrates a never-anticipated corollary: because identical twins keep a lifelong molecular signature, we can retrospectively diagnose if a person was conceived as monozygotic twin.
© 2021. The Author(s).
Overview publication
Title | Identical twins carry a persistent epigenetic signature of early genome programming. |
Date | September 28th, 2021 |
Issue name | Nature communications |
Issue number | v12.1:5618 |
DOI | 10.1038/s41467-021-25583-7 |
PubMed | 34584077 |
Authors | |
Info | Van Dongen J, Hottenga JJ, McRae AF, Sugden K, Castillo-Fernandez JE, Hannon E, Moffitt TE, Hottenga JJ, de Geus EJC, Spector TD |
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