ReviewBMC medicine2012
Genetic, environmental and stochastic factors in monozygotic twin discordance with a focus on epigenetic differences.
Review in BMC medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Comparison of Personality, Life Events, Comorbidity, and Health in Monozygotic Twins Discordant for Anorexia Nervosa.Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies · 2017Trial
- Unraveling the Genetic Mysteries of Müllerian Anomalies: Research Approaches and Clinical Significance.Clinical genetics · 2026Review
- Advanced molecular techniques in distinguishing monozygotic twins for forensic applications.Genes & genomics · 2026Review
- Homozygous FDXR variant in twin sisters with spastic paraparesis followed by acute progressive flaccid quadriparesis.BMC neurology · 2026Article
- Genetic impacts on within-pair DNA methylation variance in monozygotic twins capture gene-environment interactions and cell-type effects.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Whole Genome Sequencing of Discordant Monozygotic Twins Reveals Regulatory Variants Associated With Nonsyndromic Orofacial Clefts.Human mutation · 2026Article
- Whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome-discordant monozygotic twins.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
- Epigenetic Study of Cohort of Monozygotic Twins With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Due to MYBPC3 (Cardiac Myosin-Binding Protein C).Journal of the American Heart Association · 2024Article
- Zygotic-splitting after in vitro fertilization and prenatal parenthood testing after suspected embryo mix-up - a case report.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Article
- Knockout mice with pituitary malformations help identify human cases of hypopituitarism.Genome medicine · 2024Article
- Technical strategy for monozygotic twin discrimination by single-nucleotide variants.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Article
- How do stochastic processes and genetic threshold effects explain incomplete penetrance and inform causal disease mechanisms?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Review
- Phenotypically Discordant Anomalies in Conjoined Twins: Quirks of Nature Governed by Molecular Pathways?Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The role of chance in cancer causation.La Medicina del lavoro · 2022Article
- Comparison of Concordance of Peptic Ulcer Disease, Non-Adenomatous Intestinal Polyp, and Gallstone Disease in Korean Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Predicting male fertility from the sperm methylome: application to 120 bulls with hundreds of artificial insemination records.Clinical epigenetics · 2022Article
- Randomness and nondeterminism: from genes to free will with implications for psychiatry.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2021Article
- Epigenetics as a Mechanism of Developmental Embodiment of Stress, Resilience, and Cardiometabolic Risk Across Generations of Latinx Immigrant Families.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- DNA Methylation Variation Is Identified in Monozygotic Twins Discordant for Non-syndromic Cleft Lip and Palate.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Article
- Discordant Clinical Outcomes in a Monozygotic Dichorionic-Diamniotic Twin Pregnancy with Probable Zika Virus Exposure. Case Report.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Genetic-epidemiological studies on monozygotic (MZ) twins have been used for decades to tease out the relative contributions of genes and the environment to a trait. Phenotypic discordance in MZ twins has traditionally been ascribed to non-shared environmental factors acting after birth, however recent data indicate that this explanation is far too simple. In this paper, we review other reasons for discordance, including differences in the in utero environment, genetic mosaicism, and stochastic factors, focusing particularly on epigenetic discordance. Epigenetic differences are gaining increasing recognition. Although it is clear that in specific cases epigenetic alterations provide a causal factor in disease etiology, the overall significance of epigenetics in twin discordance remains unclear. It is also challenging to determine the causality and relative contributions of environmental, genetic, and stochastic factors to epigenetic variability. Epigenomic profiling studies have recently shed more light on the dynamics of temporal methylation change and methylome heritability, yet have not given a definite answer regarding their relevance to disease, because of limitations in establishing causality. Here, we explore the subject of epigenetics as another component in human phenotypic variability and its links to disease focusing particularly on evidence from MZ twin studies.
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