@article{ae1411f4e25742a6a1f2565ec1d386aa,
title = "Identical twins carry a persistent epigenetic signature of early genome programming",
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.",
author = "{Genetics of DNA Methylation Consortium} and {BIOS Consortium} and {van Dongen}, Jenny and Gordon, {Scott D.} and McRae, {Allan F.} and Odintsova, {Veronika V.} and Hamdi Mbarek and Breeze, {Charles E.} and Karen Sugden and Sara Lundgren and Castillo-Fernandez, {Juan E.} and Eilis Hannon and Moffitt, {Terrie E.} and Hagenbeek, {Fiona A.} and {van Beijsterveldt}, {Catharina E.M.} and {Jan Hottenga}, Jouke and Tsai, {Pei Chien} and {van Dongen}, Jenny and Hottenga, {Jouke Jan} and McRae, {Allan F.} and Karen Sugden and Castillo-Fernandez, {Juan E.} and Eilis Hannon and Moffitt, {Terrie E.} and Hottenga, {Jouke Jan} and {de Geus}, {Eco J.C.} and Spector, {Tim D.} and Min, {Josine L.} and Gibran Hemani and Ehli, {Erik A.} and Franziska Paul and Stern, {Claudio D.} and Heijmans, {Bastiaan T.} and Slagboom, {P. Eline} and Lucia Daxinger and {van der Maarel}, {Silv{\`e}re M.} and {de Geus}, {Eco J.C.} and Gonneke Willemsen and Montgomery, {Grant W.} and Bruno Reversade and Miina Ollikainen and Jaakko Kaprio and Spector, {Tim D.} and Bell, {Jordana T.} and Jonathan Mill and Avshalom Caspi and Martin, {Nicholas G.} and Boomsma, {Dorret I.}",
note = "Funding Information: We acknowledge funding from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO): Biobanking and Biomolecular Research Infrastructure (BBMRI–NL, 184.021.007; 184.033.111), and NWO Large Scale infrastructures, X-Omics (184.034.019). Cohort-specific acknowledgments are provided in Supplementary Note 8. We thank Peter Visscher and Jian Yang for their helpful comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",
year = "2021",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1038/s41467-021-25583-7",
language = "English",
volume = "12",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}