The Heritability of Twinning in Seven Large Historic Pedigrees

Twin Res Hum Genet. 2022 Apr;25(2):63-66. doi: 10.1017/thg.2022.14. Epub 2022 May 20.

Abstract

It is widely recognized that dizygotic twinning (DZT) runs in families, but estimates of heritability from twin and family data are remarkably scarce and vary considerably. Here, we traced seven large, sometimes historical, multigeneration pedigrees from West Africans, fin de siècle French Jews, Canadians (two pedigrees), and the French royal family, in which twin births were recorded. We estimated heritability of twinning (of all types) as zygosity information was not available, diluting the true DZT heritability by a third or so. The estimates in the range 8-20% are remarkably consistent across time (8-19 generations) and ethnicities and also consistent with twin and family estimates.

Keywords: Dizygotic twins; fertility; heritability; multifactorial threshold model; twinning.

MeSH terms

  • Canada
  • Humans
  • Pedigree
  • Twins, Dizygotic* / genetics
  • Twins, Monozygotic* / genetics