Abstract
Classical twin and family designs can be applied to examine the contribution of genetic and environmental influences to variation in epigenetic marks. Such models can be extended to allow for more in-depth questions, such as: How much of the variation in DNA methylation is explained by methylation Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs)? Does the contribution of genetic or environmental influences differ between males and females or between younger and older individuals? Does methylation level at CpG site X have a causal effect on trait Y and vice versa, or is the association driven by genetic pleiotropy? In this chapter, we discuss twin designs that allow to address these questions. First, we describe models that incorporate genetic relationships based on genome-wide SNP data and the application of such models to DNA methylation data from adult twins and family members. Second, we discuss the value of an integration of Mendelian Randomization (MR) with the classical twin design.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Twin and Family Studies of Epigenetics |
Editors | S. Li, J. Hopper |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Chapter | 13 |
Pages | 239-259 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Volume | 27 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780128209523 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780128209516 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Publication series
Name | Translational Epigenetics |
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Publisher | Elsevier |
Volume | 27 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Causality
- Direction of causation (DOC)
- DNA methylation
- Epigenetics
- Genetic relatedness matrix (GRM)
- Heritability
- Mendelian Randomization (MR)
- Mendelian Randomization-direction of causation model (MR-DoC)
- Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability
- Twins