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Definitive Methods of Zygosity Determination in Twins: Relevance to Problems in the Biology of Twinning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

G.A. Machin
G.A. Machin*
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, W. C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
*
Department of Pathology, W.C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2R7

Abstract

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Many studies of embryogenesis and fate of twin pregnancies are invalidated because zygosity is not determined definitively, or is assumed on the basis of inadequate criteria. This paper briefly reviews methods of zygosity determination. It reports published results and a new series of twins in which zygosity was determined by DNA fingerprinting. Implications for methods of prenatal diagnosis of zygosity are discussed in the context of the occasional need for intervention in twin transfusion syndrome or in twins discordant for major malformations. Definitive zygosity and placental anatomy (number of chorions and amnions) is discussed as the firm substrate for studies of normal and abnormal twin development.

Keywords

Diseases of twinsMZ twinsZygosityMalformationsDNA fingerprinting
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , October 1990 , pp. 459 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1990

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