Aging Twins Grow Apart Genetically, Study Shows
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Identical twins grow apart, genetically, as the years pass, a team of European and U.S. researchers reported Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Their study of identical twins shows the genetic code itself does not change, but rather chemical changes after birth alter the way genes are expressed -- a process known as epigenetics. Researchers studied 80 twins from Spain and found significant epigenetic differences in 35% of them. The younger pairs of twins were identical, while the older pairs were more likely to differ from each other.
