THE DETERMINATION OF ZYGOSITY IN A STUDY OF FINNISH TWINS

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Abstract
A method has been developed by which it is possible to determine the zygosity of a large sample of twins by a combination of the polysymptomatic and serological methods. This was made by a scoring system in which the score given for each of ten polysymptomatic traits increased with the similarity between members of a twin pair in these traits. The curve of variation of the total score was skewed, and the curve separated into its two components, that of monozygotic and dizygotic twins. An area of overlap of these components remained and the zygosity of the pairs in this area was determined by the serological method. The frequency of serological similarity in the pairs regarded as dizygotic on the basis of the score curve and the frequency of dissimilarity of the pairs in the monozygotic area of the score curve did not exceed expectation. Resemblance, as judged by other people and in photographs, were the best traits for effectively separating the two components of the curve.

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