Do I have the twins gene?

[Keenan2]

I know that fraternal twins are genetic on the maternal side. I don't have alot of information about my family, as we are not very close. I've been doing ancestry and have found that my maternal grandfathers uncle is a twin. This uncle is on his mother's side. Does this mean I could possibly carry the gene for fraternal twins? Confused because if how far back in the family tree this information is coming from but I don't have any more recent info and am very curious. Insight?

Hello, I’m expecting fraternal twins at the moment so have heard bits and pieces about the hereditary aspect! From what I’ve been told, I’d say grandfathers uncle is perhaps a bit far removed. From my understanding it needs to be in your direct family line (so mother, grandparent). But you never know - I can find no twins in my family tree at all and I’ve still managed to conceive them!

It comes down the female line. This would be females you are directly related too, so your mum, your grandmother etc. So grandfathers uncle even though they're from the maternal side is unlikely to lead to a familial trend in twins.

I suppose it is genetic in a way-some women who’ll release two more eggs regularly and that must be passed through the genes through the maternal line lending some credibility. But as I understand it there is also a random chance element. As you get older your likelihood of twins increases as your start racking up the hormones and they fluctuate more meaning you are more likely to have twins. And you just need to have sex when you happen to have dropped two eggs randomly for twins to happen as well even without any family history. Tricky one to call! I know through IVF you’re more likely to have identical twins from one egg dividing but they don’t really know why.

No. It passes from a direct female relative and results in hyper ovulation. It would be your mum, grandma, great grandma etc.

No, that's too far back. It's only considered significant if you are a fraternal twin yourself, or your mother or other siblings. There's always a chance of multiples (and identical twins are pretty much always random, although it seems to be more likely after blastocyst transfer) but it doesn't sound like you are any more likely to release multiple eggs than anyone else.