Strohmaier Jana, van Dongen Jenny, Willemsen Gonneke, Nyholt Dale R, Zhu Gu, Codd Veryan, Novakovic Boris, Hansell Narelle, Wright Margaret J, Rietschel Liz, Streit Fabian, Henders Anjali K, Montgomery Grant W, Samani Nilesh J, Gillespie Nathan A, Hickie Ian B, Craig Jeffrey M, Saffery Richard, Boomsma Dorret I, Rietschel Marcella, Martin Nicholas G
Division of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry,Central Institute of Mental Health,Medical Faculty Mannheim,University of Heidelberg,68159 Mannheim,Germany.
Biological Psychology,VU University,1081 BT Amsterdam,The Netherlands.
Twin Res Hum Genet. 2015 Apr;18(2):198-209. doi: 10.1017/thg.2015.3. Epub 2015 Mar 6.
Shorter telomere length (TL) has found to be associated with lower birth weight and with lower cognitive ability and psychiatric disorders. However, the direction of causation of these associations and the extent to which they are genetically or environmentally mediated are unclear. Within-pair comparisons of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins can throw light on these questions. We investigated correlations of within pair differences in telomere length, IQ, and anxiety/depression in an initial sample from Brisbane (242 MZ pairs, 245 DZ same sex (DZSS) pairs) and in replication samples from Amsterdam (514 MZ pairs, 233 DZSS pairs) and Melbourne (19 pairs selected for extreme high or low birth weight difference). Intra-pair differences of birth weight and telomere length were significantly correlated in MZ twins, but not in DZSS twins. Greater intra-pair differences of telomere length were observed in the 10% of MZ twins with the greatest difference in birth weight compared to the bottom 90% in both samples and also in the Melbourne sample. Intra-pair differences of telomere length and IQ, but not of TL and anxiety/depression, were correlated in MZ twins, and to a smaller extent in DZSS twins. Our findings suggest that the same prenatal effects that reduce birth weight also influence telomere length in MZ twins. The association between telomere length and IQ is partly driven by the same prenatal effects that decrease birth weight.
较短的端粒长度（TL）已被发现与较低的出生体重、较低的认知能力以及精神疾病有关。然而，这些关联的因果方向以及它们在多大程度上由基因或环境介导尚不清楚。同卵（MZ）双胞胎和异卵（DZ）双胞胎的配对内比较可以阐明这些问题。我们在来自布里斯班的初始样本（242对MZ双胞胎，245对同性异卵（DZSS）双胞胎）以及来自阿姆斯特丹（514对MZ双胞胎，233对DZSS双胞胎）和墨尔本（19对因出生体重差异极大而入选的双胞胎）的重复样本中，研究了端粒长度、智商以及焦虑/抑郁的配对内差异之间的相关性。MZ双胞胎中出生体重和端粒长度的配对内差异显著相关，但DZSS双胞胎中并非如此。在两个样本以及墨尔本样本中，与出生体重差异最小的90%的MZ双胞胎相比，出生体重差异最大的10%的MZ双胞胎观察到更大的端粒长度配对内差异。MZ双胞胎中端粒长度与智商的配对内差异相关，但端粒长度与焦虑/抑郁的配对内差异不相关，DZSS双胞胎中的相关性较小。我们的研究结果表明，降低出生体重的相同产前效应也会影响MZ双胞胎的端粒长度。端粒长度与智商之间的关联部分由降低出生体重的相同产前效应驱动。
