Overview

• Genome-wide association analysis of 10,896 monozygotic twin pairs across 11 cohorts identified 13 significant loci tied to variations in environmental sensitivity.
• Variants in growth factor genes corresponded to autistic trait differences, stress reactivity genes to depression symptoms and catecholamine-related genes to psychotic-like experiences.
• Comparison of genetically identical twins allowed isolation of environmental effects and revealed how genotype modulates responses to life experiences.
• Published in Nature Human Behaviour, the research was led by King’s College London with collaborators at UCL, Queen Mary University of London and 23 partner institutions.
• The findings establish a framework for future gene–environment interaction studies across additional psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions.