DNA methylation studies using twins: what are they telling us?
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Recent studies have identified both heritable DNA methylation effects and differential methylation in disease-discordant identical twins. Larger sample sizes, replication, genetic-epigenetic analyses and longitudinal assays are now needed to establish the role of epigenetic variants in disease.
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Variation in DNA methylation depends not only on the environment, but also on genetic factors.
“Moreover, evidence suggests that variation in DNAm depends not only on the environment, but also on genetic factors (Bell & Spector, 2012).”
From Can epigenetics shine a light on the biological pathways underlying major mental disorders? (2022) · cites this paper as Bell & Spector, 2012
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“(see [46,47]) and assumptions of generalizability to trans-”
BackgroundAbundant quantitative trait loci exist for DNA methylation and gene expression in human brain
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Marioni, R. E., Shah, S., McRae, A. F., Chen, B. H., Colicino, E., Harris, S. E., Gibson, J., Henders, A. K., Redmond, P., Cox, S. R., et al. (2015) · Genome Biology · doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0584-6 · Cited by 1,261 · see citing works
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Tsaprouni, L. G., Yang, T.-P., Bell, J., Dick, K. J., Kanoni, S., Nisbet, J., Viñuela, A., Grundberg, E., Nelson, C. P., Meduri, E., et al. (2014) · Epigenetics · doi:10.4161/15592294.2014.969637 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Self-citationCan epigenetics shine a light on the biological pathways underlying major mental disorders?
Alameda, L., Trotta, G., Quigley, H., Rodriguez, V., Gadelrab, R., Dwir, D., Dempster, E., Wong, C. C. Y., & Forti, M. D. (2022) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291721005559 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“Moreover, evidence suggests that variation in DNAm depends not only on the environment, but also on genetic factors (Bell & Spector, 2012).”
BackgroundTwin studies advance the understanding of gene-environment interplay in human nutrigenomics
Pallister, T., Spector, T. D., & Menni, C. (2014) · Nutrition Research Reviews · doi:10.1017/s095442241400016x · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Bell, J. T., & Spector, T. D.
- Affiliations
- St Thomas' Hospital (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bell, Jordana T
- Spector, Tim D
- Venue
- Genome Biology
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 172
- ISSN
- 1465-6906 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3491399
- OpenAlex
- W2113637769
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 2.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Genome biology (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (250157)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Syndromes and Imprinting
- Keywords
- DNA methylation, twins, differentially methylated regions, epigenetic variants, genetic-epigenetic interaction, replication
- MeSH terms
- Disease, Humans, Twins, Monozygotic, DNA Methylation, Epigenesis, Genetic, Genome-Wide Association Study, Epigenomics
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