Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China; Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau Wuqing Branch, Tianjin, PR China.
Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2019 Jul;41:152-158. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2019.05.003. Epub 2019 May 17.
Monozygotic (MZ) twins are widely regarded as genetically identical, and traditional DNA typing methods are insufficient in identifying MZ twins. So the discrimination of MZ twins become a forensic problem. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, endogenous, non-protein-coding RNA molecules of approximately 22 nucleotides in length, and exist extensively in a variety of eukaryotic cells. MiRNAs regulate gene expression and play fundamental roles in multiple biological processes, including cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis as well as aging and disease processes. The goal of this study is to explore the differential expression of miRNAs within MZ twin pairs, and aimed to find new biomarkers for distinguishing MZ twins. Thus, the miRNA expression profiles of seven pairs of healthy MZ twins of different sex and age were analyzed by miRNA microarray. A total of 545 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in these MZ twin pairs, and 2, 5, 22, 53 and 132 differentially expressed miRNAs were shared across six, five, four, three and two pairs of MZ twins respectively. These findings had been confirmed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays on select miRNAs, including miR-151a-3p, miR-3653-3p, miR-142-3p, miR-4325, miR-16-5p, let-7i-5p, miR-222-3p, miR-550b-3p, miR-4791 and miR-27a-3p. The results demonstrated that there are differences in the expression of miRNAs within MZ twin pairs, suggesting a role of miRNAs in identifying MZ twins.
同卵（MZ）双胞胎通常被认为在基因上是完全相同的，而传统的 DNA 分型方法不足以识别 MZ 双胞胎。因此，区分 MZ 双胞胎成为一个法医学问题。微小 RNA（miRNA）是一类大约 22 个核苷酸长的小、内源性、非蛋白编码 RNA 分子，广泛存在于各种真核细胞中。miRNA 调节基因表达，在细胞分化、增殖和凋亡以及衰老和疾病过程等多种生物学过程中发挥着重要作用。本研究旨在探讨 MZ 双胞胎之间 miRNA 的差异表达，旨在寻找区分 MZ 双胞胎的新生物标志物。因此，通过 miRNA 微阵列分析了 7 对不同性别和年龄的健康 MZ 双胞胎的 miRNA 表达谱。在这些 MZ 双胞胎中，共发现 545 个 miRNA 存在差异表达，其中 6 对、5 对、4 对、3 对和 2 对 MZ 双胞胎分别共享 2、5、22、53 和 132 个差异表达 miRNA。通过实时定量逆转录-聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）对选定的 miRNA（包括 miR-151a-3p、miR-3653-3p、miR-142-3p、miR-4325、miR-16-5p、let-7i-5p、miR-222-3p、miR-550b-3p、miR-4791 和 miR-27a-3p）进行了验证。结果表明，MZ 双胞胎之间 miRNA 的表达存在差异，表明 miRNA 在识别 MZ 双胞胎方面发挥了作用。
