Is it possible to have twins through your father's genes?

Question

My hubby has twins all through his family, as does my father's side of the family. Yet even though my maternal grandparents had SEVENTEEN kids, there is no sign of twins anywhere (except ONE cousin out of SEVENTY who had twins a few years ago). This cousin's mother who is my natural aunt has no twins in her family.

Is there any chance for me to have twins?

Answer 1

Twinning can happen by random chance, but it does run in families, suggesting a genetic component. However, it is the mother's genes which are a factor, making her more likely to release multiple eggs at ovulation (resulting in fraternal twins) or making her eggs more susceptible to splitting (resulting in identical twins). Men can inherit those genes from their mothers and pass them on to their daughters, so you may have inherited the tendency from your father. However, a man's genes have no effect on his wife's ovaries, so the prevalence of twins in your husband's family is irrelevent.

Answer 2

If the potential fathers are identical twins then no a DNA test cannot prove who the father is. As a mom of twins I did my research when I was pregnant with them and the only way to know 100% for sure if the babies are in fact identical is to do a DNA test. Both dads have identical DNA hence identical twins so baby's DNA will match both fathers. If they were franternal then yes a DNA test would decipher that.

Answer 3

Identical twins are not hereditary at all - just a fluke of nature.
Non Identical twins ARE hereditary but on the maternal side...think about it - you as a woman, have to release two eggs at the same time...how could your father or husband have an effect on your ovaries?

Saying that, there are NO twins on either side of our families but we still managed to get some lol

Answer 4

it depends what type of twin you are talking about. non identical twins are from 2 eggs. identical twins are from 1 which splits so i guess it is possible to get identical twins if your husband has an identical twin gene but you may also from your dad.
ive heard it skips a generation too but i believe that to be a load of old crock!
even if there isnt a history of twins in your family ou could always be the first!

Answer 5

if there are NON IDENTICAL twins in any of your blood relatives then there is a great chance that you will have twins, i cannot go into details about what the chances are as its quite confusing but if you really want to know go to a biology teacher and ask him/her and they will simplify the explaination, but as a whim without working it out i would say there is a 1 in 4 chance of you having twins (this is the same with each pregnancy). but it is important that you blood relatives are non identicle and not identical as identical isnt genetic (i dont know why this is sorry)

Answer 6

There is no doubt that twinning seems to run in some families. Closer investigation reveals that this is mainly confined to nonidentical, or fraternal (dizygotic - DZ) twins, although there are a few rare families with extraordinary numbers of identical (monozygotic - MZ) twins. Furthermore, the increased chance of twinning seems to be entirely a property of the mother, not the father. Of course, there are counter examples to all these rules, and there are even families with large numbers of both MZ and DZ twins. At the moment it is not clear whether these just occur by chance and we get to hear about them due to reporting bias (they always make great front page stories) or whether they represent some new biological mechanism.



Anyway, the strongest clues we have - that it is confined to DZ twinning and females - suggest that the primary cause is an increased risk of multiple ovulation, when a woman releases two or more eggs in a given menstrual cycle, rather than the normal one. We tested this by ultrasound scanning of ovaries just before ovulation in mothers who had previously given birth to two sets of DZ twins (MODZTs), and showed a much higher rate of multiple ovulation than in control women. The maturation and release of one or more eggs is controlled by several reproductive hormones, including follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and inhibins. We checked the level of these hormones in MODZTs and controls at different parts of the menstrual cycle and showed that there were some abnormalities, although these were not very consistent. Perhaps the most intriguing finding is Dutch evidence that MODZTs release FSH in more frequent pulses than normal women.



The best evidence for twinning genes comes from sheep where mutations in two genes increase twinning by altering the response of the ovary to FSH. Currently, we are collecting DNA from pairs of sisters who have both had DZ twins, since these will enable us to use genetic linkage analysis to locate the genes responsible for familial DZ twinning. Once we have found them, and understood the mechanisms by which they work, we may well be able to predict which particular women have a greater chance of having twins.



Meanwhile, the best way of increasing your chances of having DZ twins if you are female is to have a mother, a sister, or an aunt (on either your mother's or father's side) who has had DZ twins. If you are male, then marry a woman who fits this description because it seems that the father has no influence on the chance of twins, although he can pass the tendency to his daughters. Another major factor is maternal age; a woman who gives birth at 37 is four times more likely to have DZ twins than at age 18, although she is also more likely to be unable to conceive, since many women's ovaries are already starting to fail at that age. The third major risk factor is race; West Africans are ten times more likely to have DZ twins than Chinese or Japanese, with Caucasians intermediate. This increased chance is also seen in Afro-Americans.

Interestingly, neither maternal age nor race seems to influence MZ twinning, which is almost a universal constant at about 4 per 1000 births. Finally, all the above only applies to spontaneous, or natural births. The introduction of assisted reproduction techniques, particularly ovarian stimulation, has seen a dramatic rise in the number of twin and higher multiple births. They also slightly increase the chance of MZ twinning, which suggests that there may be some connection between the two types of twinning.

Hope this answers your question!

Answer 7

i think it's suppost to skip a genaration, i'm not too sure how true this is as my grandad was a twin and i've had 1 child and pregnant with 1, i think anyone can have twins it dosen't matter if it's in the family or not as it's decided through the sperm and egg.

Answer 8

they say it runs with the mothers genes not the fathers. i am actually a twin, my mother is a twin. my twin sis and i both have children, neither one of us had twins. my twin sis is currently pregnant with #2 and there is only one in there that they can see. my moms twin has a daughter and she has gotten pregnant, she only had one child in there. they say its supposed to skip a generation but in our case, it didnt.
good luck-

Answer 9

Yes its possible, anyone can have twins at any time, your chances are higher if you have twins in either of your backgrounds

Answer 10

theres absolutely NO history of twins in either mine or my partners family but i still gave birth to twins!!