Genetic mapping and evolutionary analysis of human-expanded cognitive networks

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Yongbin Wei, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Siemon C de Lange, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Lianne H. Scholtens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Kyoko Watanabe, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Dirk Jan Ardesch, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Philip R. Jansen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Jeanne E. Savage, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Longchuan Li, Emory University; Todd Preuss, Emory University; James Rilling, Emory University; Danielle Posthuma, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Martjin P. van den Heuvel, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-10-24
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2019, The Author(s)
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12764-8
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Nature Communications
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 4839
• End Page: 4839
• Grant/Funding Information: D.P. was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO VICI 453-14-005); Human neuroimaging data was kindly provided by the Human Connectome Project, WU-Minn Consortium (Principal Investigators: David Van Essen and Kamil Ugurbil; 1U54MH091657) funded by the 16 NIH Institutes and Centers that support the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research; and by the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience at Washington University.; Primate work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants P01AG026423 and National Center for Research Resources P51RR165 (superseded by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD P51OD11132) to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and by the National Chimpanzee Brain Resource, R24NS092988.; P.R.J. was supported by the Sophia Foundation for Scientific Research (SSWO, grant s14-27).; L.L. was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH100029).; he work of M.P.v.d.H. was supported by an ALW open (ALWOP.179) and VIDI (452-16-015) grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and a Fellowship of MQ. Y.W. was supported by the China Scholarship Council (201506040039).
• Keywords: DEFAULT MODE NETWORK; HUMAN CONNECTOME; GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION; HUMAN CEREBRAL-CORTEX; EXPRESSION; MENTAL TIME-TRAVEL; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Science & Technology; HERITABILITY; Multidisciplinary Sciences; BRAIN; ORGANIZATION; REGIONS
• Research Categories: Biology, Genetics

Abstract

Cognitive brain networks such as the default-mode network (DMN), frontoparietal network, and salience network, are key functional networks of the human brain. Here we show that the rapid evolutionary cortical expansion of cognitive networks in the human brain, and most pronounced the DMN, runs parallel with high expression of human-accelerated genes (HAR genes). Using comparative transcriptomics analysis, we present that HAR genes are differentially more expressed in higher-order cognitive networks in humans compared to chimpanzees and macaques and that genes with high expression in the DMN are involved in synapse and dendrite formation. Moreover, HAR and DMN genes show significant associations with individual variations in DMN functional activity, intelligence, sociability, and mental conditions such as schizophrenia and autism. Our results suggest that the expansion of higher-order functional networks subserving increasing cognitive properties has been an important locus of genetic changes in recent human brain evolution.