Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY
Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 418-430Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22394
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [BCS0827546, BCS0827531]
- Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie [0827531] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives Human brain development follows a unique pattern characterized by a prolonged period of postnatal growth and reorganization, and a postnatal peak in glucose utilization. The molecular processes underlying these developmental changes are poorly characterized. The objectives of this study were to determine developmental trajectories of gene expression and to examine the evolutionary history of genes differentially expressed as a function of age. Methods We used microarrays to determine age-related patterns of mRNA expression in human cerebral cortical samples ranging from infancy to adulthood. In contrast to previous developmental gene expression studies of human neocortex that relied on postmortem tissue, we measured mRNA expression from the nondiseased margins of surgically resected tissue. We used regression models designed to identify transcripts that followed significant linear or curvilinear functions of age and used population genetics techniques to examine the evolution of these genes. Results We identified 40 transcripts with significant age-related trajectories in expression. Ten genes have documented roles in nervous system development and energy metabolism, others are novel candidates in brain development. Sixteen transcripts showed similar patterns of expression, characterized by decreasing expression during childhood. Comparative genomic analyses revealed that the regulatory regions of three genes have evidence of adaptive evolution in recent human evolution. Conclusions These findings provide evidence that a subset of genes expressed in the human cerebral cortex broadly mirror developmental patterns of cortical glucose consumption. Whether there is a causal relationship between gene expression and glucose utilization remains to be determined. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 25:418430, 2013. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available