Beijing Center for Physical and Chemical Analysis, Beijing 100094, PR China; Beijing Engineering Technology Research Centre of Gene Sequencing and Gene Function Analysis, Beijing 100094, PR China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100010, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2019 Jan;38:23-31. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.09.011. Epub 2018 Oct 1.
In general, it is extremely problematic to discriminate between monozygotic twins (MZTs), who share the same genomic DNA sequence, using traditional DNA-based identification methods such as short tandem repeat profiling. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have shown potential in forensic applications owing to their low molecular weight, abundant and tissue-specific expression. In this study, we utilized massively parallel sequencing technology to perform genome-wide profiling of miRNAs in the blood from four pairs of healthy MZTs. On average, 158 miRNAs were detected in each individual and 14% of which were differentially expressed within each pair of MZTs. The miRNAs with the most significant differences in expression between the twins were confirmed using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Our results demonstrated that miRNAs have potential for use as molecular markers in MZTs discrimination.
一般来说，使用传统的基于 DNA 的识别方法（如短串联重复序列分析）来区分具有相同基因组 DNA 序列的同卵双胞胎（MZTs）非常困难。由于 miRNA 的分子量小、表达丰富且具有组织特异性，因此它们在法医学应用中具有潜力。在这项研究中，我们利用大规模平行测序技术对来自四对健康 MZTs 的血液中的 miRNA 进行了全基因组分析。平均而言，每个个体中检测到 158 个 miRNA，其中 14%在每对 MZTs 中差异表达。使用实时聚合酶链反应证实了双胞胎之间表达差异最显著的 miRNA。我们的研究结果表明，miRNA 具有作为 MZTs 区分的分子标记的潜力。
