Identical twins carry a persistent epigenetic signature of early genome programming

Jenny 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. Beijsterveldt, Jouke Hottenga, Pei-Chien Tsai, Josine L. Min, Gibran Hemani, Erik A. Ehli, Franziska Paul, Claudio D. Stern, Bastiaan T. Heijmans, P. Eline Slagboom, Lucia Daxinger, Silvère M. Maarel, Eco J. C. 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 and Dorret I. Boomsma
Additional contact information
Jenny Dongen: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Scott D. Gordon: Queensland Institute of Medical Research Berghofer
Allan F. McRae: The University of Queensland
Veronika V. Odintsova: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Hamdi Mbarek: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Charles E. Breeze: Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences
Karen Sugden: Duke University
Sara Lundgren: University of Helsinki
Juan E. Castillo-Fernandez: Kings College London
Eilis Hannon: University of Exeter
Terrie E. Moffitt: Duke University
Fiona A. Hagenbeek: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Catharina E. M. Beijsterveldt: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Jouke Hottenga: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Pei-Chien Tsai: Kings College London
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: University College London
Bastiaan T. Heijmans: Leiden University Medical Center
P. Eline Slagboom: Leiden University Medical Center
Lucia Daxinger: Leiden University Medical Center
Silvère M. Maarel: Leiden University Medical Center
Eco J. C. Geus: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Gonneke Willemsen: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Grant W. Montgomery: The University of Queensland
Bruno Reversade: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, A*STAR
Miina Ollikainen: University of Helsinki
Jaakko Kaprio: University of Helsinki
Tim D. Spector: Kings College London
Jordana T. Bell: Kings College London
Jonathan Mill: University of Exeter
Avshalom Caspi: Duke University
Nicholas G. Martin: Queensland Institute of Medical Research Berghofer
Dorret I. Boomsma: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25583-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25583-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25583-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().