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On the Nature of Monozygotic Twin Concordance and Discordance for Autistic Trait Severity: A Quantitative Analysis.

ABSTRACT: The characterizing features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are continuously distributed in nature; however, prior twin studies have not systematically incorporated this knowledge into estimations of concordance and discordance. We conducted a quantitative analysis of twin-twin similarity for autistic trait severity in three existing data sets involving 366 pairs of uniformly-phenotyped monozygotic (MZ) twins with and without ASD. Probandwise concordance for ASD was 96%; however, MZ trait correlations differed markedly for pairs with ASD trait burden below versus above the threshold for clinical diagnosis, with R²s on the order of 0.6 versus 0.1, respectively. Categorical MZ twin discordance for ASD diagnosis is rare and more appropriately operationalized by standardized quantification of twin-twin differences. Here we provide new evidence that although ASD itself is highly heritable, variation-in-severity of symptomatology above the diagnostic threshold is substantially influenced, in contrast, by non-shared environmental factors which may identify novel targets of early ASD amelioration.

SUBMITTER: Castelbaum L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7355281 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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On the Nature of Monozygotic Twin Concordance and Discordance for Autistic Trait Severity: A Quantitative Analysis.

Castelbaum Lauren L Sylvester Chad M CM Zhang Yi Y Yu Qiongru Q Constantino John N JN

Behavior genetics 20191218 4

The characterizing features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are continuously distributed in nature; however, prior twin studies have not systematically incorporated this knowledge into estimations of concordance and discordance. We conducted a quantitative analysis of twin-twin similarity for autistic trait severity in three existing data sets involving 366 pairs of uniformly-phenotyped monozygotic (MZ) twins with and without ASD. Probandwise concordance for ASD was 96%; however, MZ trait corr ...[more]

PMID: 31853901

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Project description:Habitual short sleep duration is associated with adverse metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory effects. Co-twin study methodologies account for familial (eg, genetics and shared environmental) confounding, allowing assessment of subtle environmental effects, such as the effect of habitual short sleep duration on gene expression. Therefore, we investigated gene expression in monozygotic twins discordant for actigraphically phenotyped habitual sleep duration. Eleven healthy monozygotic twin pairs (82% female; mean age 42.7 years; SD = 18.1), selected based on subjective sleep duration discordance, were objectively phenotyped for habitual sleep duration with 2 weeks of wrist actigraphy. Peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) RNA from fasting blood samples was obtained on the final day of actigraphic measurement and hybridized to Illumina humanHT-12 microarrays. Differential gene expression was determined between paired samples and mapped to functional categories using Gene Ontology. Finally, a more comprehensive gene set enrichment analysis was performed based on the entire PBL transcriptome. The mean 24-hour sleep duration of the total sample was 439.2 minutes (SD = 46.8 minutes; range 325.4-521.6 minutes). Mean within-pair sleep duration difference per 24 hours was 64.4 minutes (SD = 21.2; range 45.9-114.6 minutes). The twin cohort displayed distinctive pathway enrichment based on sleep duration differences. Habitual short sleep was associated with up-regulation of genes involved in transcription, ribosome, translation, and oxidative phosphorylation. Unexpectedly, genes down-regulated in short sleep twins were highly enriched in immuno-inflammatory pathways such as interleukin signaling and leukocyte activation, as well as developmental programs, coagulation cascade, and cell adhesion. Objectively assessed habitual sleep duration in monozygotic twin pairs appears to be associated with distinct patterns of differential gene expression and pathway enrichment. By accounting for familial confounding and measuring real life sleep duration, our study shows the transcriptomic effects of habitual short sleep on dysregulated immune response and provides a potential link between sleep deprivation and adverse metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory outcomes.

Dataset Information

On the Nature of Monozygotic Twin Concordance and Discordance for Autistic Trait Severity: A Quantitative Analysis.

Publications

On the Nature of Monozygotic Twin Concordance and Discordance for Autistic Trait Severity: A Quantitative Analysis.

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