Thursday, May 5, 2016

Gene to Increase Chances of Twins



After a study of 2000 mothers of fraternal twins, researchers have discovered that a woman's chance of having twins would increase if they have at least one of two genes through looking at their gene sequences. One gene affects the amount of hormone levels the mother has and the other is how the ovaries respond to them. Having just one copy of the SNPS would increase the chance of having fraternal twins by 29%. These SNPS are called FHB and SMAD3. FHB is the one that affects hormone levels and SMAD3 affects the ovaries response to FHB.

With this new information researches now have a better understanding of exactly what causes twins. This gives support that if the there are fraternal twins on the mother's side of the family, then there is a higher chance of her giving birth to a set of twins as well. Simply having the gene for twins does not necessarily mean the mother will give birth to twins, it only increases the likelihood. These genes in fact do not have to be present at all. So, there could be an "eve" gene for having twins, but it may have not been needed for the first set of fraternal twins to exist.

4 comments:

  1. It is very interesting to read this article about fraternal twins and twins and general and now I feel I have a better understanding of why twins are more common and some families and not common at all in others. Some people say it skips a generation and comes from the mother's side or the father's side and that has always confused me because I feel like no one really actually knew. Now I have a better understanding and can explain it to those who aren't quite correct.

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  2. After reading this article and knowing twins run in my family I understand know. Three of my cousins on my moms side have had twins within the last ten years and this article has helped me understand a little bit more on how this came to be. Having a gene for twins makes sense know, and having two copies of that gene increases the chance of having a set. I hope to read more on this research and see if they survey a bigger population next time.

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  3. after reading this article it gives me great understanding of how twins come around. i never really knew i just thought that you had to be in a lineage of twin "families" to get this chance.

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  4. I read the same article and was extremely surprised! It is amazing what they can discover through SNPs. I would like to hear to about the other research they want to do about in vitro fertilization.

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