Abstract
Genetics Monozygotic twins that originate in the fertilization of one egg that splits into two are classically considered genetically identical. As a result, twin studies are an important aspect of research to unpick questions of nature versus nurture. To verify this assumption, Eriksson et al. sequenced the genomes of 381 monozygotic twin pairs and two sets of triplets and mapped mutations. The authors found that some twin pairs showed no differences, whereas 15% showed substantial differences in the number of mutations. In some twin pairs, the mutated lineages occurred in most cell lineages sampled, suggesting that they had occurred early in development. Phenotypic differences between twins are usually attributed to environmental effects, but this study suggests that this might not always be the case. Nat. Genet. 53 , 27 (2021).
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