Alina German1, Gregory Livshits2, Inga Peter3, Ida Malkin2, Jonathan Dubnov4, Hannah Akons5, Michael Shmoish6, Ze'ev Hochberg7. 1. Department of Pediatrics, Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: alinagerman@gmail.com. 2. Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. 3. Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. 4. Haifa District Health Office, Ministry of Health, School of Public Health, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel. 5. Haifa District Health Office, Ministry of Health, Haifa, Israel. 6. The Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. 7. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Using a twins study, we sought to assess the contribution of genetic against environmental factor as they affect the age at transition from infancy to childhood (ICT). STUDY DESIGN: The subjects were 56 pairs of monozygotic twins, 106 pairs of dizygotic twins, and 106 pairs of regular siblings (SBs), for a total of 536 children. Their ICT was determined, and a variance component analysis was implemented to estimate components of the familial variance, with simultaneous adjustment for potential covariates. RESULTS: We found substantial contribution of the common environment shared by all types of SBs that explained 27.7% of the total variance in ICT, whereas the common twin environment explained 9.2% of the variance, gestational age 3.5%, and birth weight 1.8%. In addition, 8.7% was attributable to sex difference, but we found no detectable contribution of genetic factors to inter-individual variation in ICT age. CONCLUSIONS: Developmental plasticity impacts much of human growth. Here we show that of the ∼50% of the variance provided to adult height by the ICT, 42.2% is attributable to adaptive cues represented by shared twin and SB environment, with no detectable genetic involvement.
OBJECTIVE: Using a twins study, we sought to assess the contribution of genetic against environmental factor as they affect the age at transition from infancy to childhood (ICT). STUDY DESIGN: The subjects were 56 pairs of monozygotic twins, 106 pairs of dizygotic twins, and 106 pairs of regular siblings (SBs), for a total of 536 children. Their ICT was determined, and a variance component analysis was implemented to estimate components of the familial variance, with simultaneous adjustment for potential covariates. RESULTS: We found substantial contribution of the common environment shared by all types of SBs that explained 27.7% of the total variance in ICT, whereas the common twin environment explained 9.2% of the variance, gestational age 3.5%, and birth weight 1.8%. In addition, 8.7% was attributable to sex difference, but we found no detectable contribution of genetic factors to inter-individual variation in ICT age. CONCLUSIONS: Developmental plasticity impacts much of human growth. Here we show that of the ∼50% of the variance provided to adult height by the ICT, 42.2% is attributable to adaptive cues represented by shared twin and SB environment, with no detectable genetic involvement.
Authors: K Hughes; Y Gelfer; M Cokljat; S Wientroub; A Yavor; Y Hemo; M Dunkley; D M Eastwood Journal: J Child Orthop Date: 2019-08-01 Impact factor: 1.548
Authors: Robin M Bernstein; G Kesler O'Connor; Eric A Vance; Nabeel Affara; Saikou Drammeh; David B Dunger; Abdoulie Faal; Ken K Ong; Fatou Sosseh; Andrew M Prentice; Sophie E Moore Journal: Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) Date: 2020-03-24 Impact factor: 5.555