ArticleGenome biology2021
Equivalent DNA methylation variation between monozygotic co-twins and unrelated individuals reveals universal epigenetic inter-individual dissimilarity.
Article in Genome biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment of radiotherapy effect and toxicity using tissue-associated DNA methylation markers in cell-free DNA: a study on prostate cancer.Radiation and environmental biophysics · 2026Article
- 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
- Forensic genetics in the omics era.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026Review
- Emerging opportunities for DNA methylation biomarkers in cattle improvement.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2026Review
- Epigenetic drift score captures directional methylation variability and links aging to transcriptional, metabolic, and genetic alterations.Genome research · 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
- Metabolomics efficiently discriminates monozygotic twins in peripheral blood.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Article
- A multiomic atlas of the aging hippocampus reveals molecular changes in response to environmental enrichment.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Epigenetic analyses in forensic medicine: future and challenges.International journal of legal medicine · 2024Review
- Uncovering Forensic Evidence: A Path to Age Estimation through DNA Methylation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- DNA methylome profiling of blood to identify individuals in a pair of monozygotic twins.Genes & genomics · 2023Article
- Discrimination of monozygotic twins using mtDNA heteroplasmy through probe capture enrichment and massively parallel sequencing.International journal of legal medicine · 2023Article
- Prediction of treatment response to antipsychotic drugs for precision medicine approach to schizophrenia: randomized trials and multiomics analysis.Military Medical Research · 2023Article
- DNA and protein analyses of hair in forensic genetics.International journal of legal medicine · 2023Review
- Extensive intratumor regional epigenetic heterogeneity in clear cell renal cell carcinoma targets kidney enhancers and is associated with poor outcome.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Article
- Lab partners: oocytes, embryos and company. A personal view on aspects of oocyte maturation and the development of monozygotic twins.Animal reproduction · 2023Article
- Long-term Temporal Stability of Peripheral Blood DNA Methylation Profiles in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology · 2023Article
- Making sense of the ageing methylome.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2022Review
- Tissue- and ethnicity-independent hypervariable DNA methylation states show evidence of establishment in the early human embryo.Nucleic acids research · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough the genomes of monozygotic twins are practically identical, their methylomes may evolve divergently throughout their lifetime as a consequence of factors such as the environment or aging. Particularly for young and healthy monozygotic twins, DNA methylation divergence, if any, may be restricted to stochastic processes occurring post-twinning during embryonic development and early life. However, to what extent such stochastic mechanisms can systematically provide a stable source of inter-individual epigenetic variation remains uncertain until now.
resultsWe enriched for inter-individual stochastic variation by using an equivalence testing-based statistical approach on whole blood methylation microarray data from healthy adolescent monozygotic twins. As a result, we identified 333 CpGs displaying similarly large methylation variation between monozygotic co-twins and unrelated individuals. Although their methylation variation surpasses measurement error and is stable in a short timescale, susceptibility to aging is apparent in the long term. Additionally, 46% of these CpGs were replicated in adipose tissue. The identified sites are significantly enriched at the clustered protocadherin loci, known for stochastic methylation in developing neurons. We also confirmed an enrichment in monozygotic twin DNA methylation discordance at these loci in whole genome bisulfite sequencing data from blood and adipose tissue.
conclusionsWe have isolated a component of stochastic methylation variation, distinct from genetic influence, measurement error, and epigenetic drift. Biomarkers enriched in this component may serve in the future as the basis for universal epigenetic fingerprinting, relevant for instance in the discrimination of monozygotic twin individuals in forensic applications, currently impossible with standard DNA profiling.
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