%0 Journal Article
%A Vidaki, Athina
%A Kalamara, Vivian
%A Carnero-Montoro, Elena
%A Spector, Timothy D
%A Bell, Jordana T
%A Kayser, Manfred
%T Investigating the Epigenetic Discrimination of Identical Twins Using Buccal Swabs, Saliva, and Cigarette Butts in the Forensic Setting.
%D 2018
%@ 2073-4425
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10668/12461
%X Monozygotic (MZ) twins are typically indistinguishable via forensic DNA profiling. Recently, we demonstrated that epigenetic differentiation of MZ twins is feasible; however, proportions of twin differentially methylated CpG sites (tDMSs) identified in reference-type blood DNA were not replicated in trace-type blood DNA. Here we investigated buccal swabs as typical forensic reference material, and saliva and cigarette butts as commonly encountered forensic trace materials. As an analog to a forensic case, we analyzed one MZ twin pair. Epigenome-wide microarray analysis in reference-type buccal DNA revealed 25 candidate tDMSs with >0.5 twin-to-twin differences. MethyLight quantitative PCR (qPCR) of 22 selected tDMSs in trace-type DNA revealed in saliva DNA that six tDMSs (27.3%) had >0.1 twin-to-twin differences, seven (31.8%) had smaller (0.5 twin-to-twin differences. MethyLight quantitative PCR (qPCR) of 22 selected tDMSs in trace-type DNA revealed in saliva DNA that six tDMSs (27.3%) had >0.1 twin-to-twin differences, seven (31.8%) had smaller (0.1 twin-to-twin differences, seven (31.8%) had smaller (
%K DNA methylation
%K Illumina 450K array
%K MethyLight
%K buccal cells
%K cigarette butts
%K epigenomics
%K forensics
%K individual identification
%K monozygotic twins
%K saliva
%~