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. 1997 May;42(5):260-6.

Twin zygosity. Automated determination with microsatellites

A Becker  1 , A Busjahn, H D Faulhaber, S Bähring, J Robertson, H Schuster, F C Luft
Affiliations
  • PMID: 9172114

Twin zygosity. Automated determination with microsatellites

A Becker et al. J Reprod Med. 1997 May.

Abstract

Objective: Twin zygosity determinations can be performed with anthropologic, serologic and genetic markers; however, these methods are more than occasionally inefficient, often expensive and sometimes inaccurate. We used microsatellites as DNA markers and developed a largely automated, rapid and efficient method of determining zygosity.

Study design: We used five highly polymorphic short tandem repeat loci, coamplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using fluorescence-labeled primers. Thirty-six samples were simultaneously analyzed by electrophoresis and laser detection. The PCR products were sized by automated fragment analysis.

Results: We typed 132 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. With five markers, the probability that any twin pair was MZ if all markers were concordant was 99%.

Conclusion: This method is a rapid and reliable approach to zygosity detection.

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