BRAIN NETWORKS. Correlated Gene Expression Supports Synchronous Activity in Brain Networks

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2015 Jun 13

PMID 26068849

Citations 298

Authors

Jonas Richiardi

Andre Altmann

Anna-Clare Milazzo

Catie Chang

M Mallar Chakravarty

Tobias Banaschewski

Gareth J Barker

Arun L W Bokde

Uli Bromberg

Christian Buchel

Patricia Conrod

Mira Fauth-Buhler

Herta Flor

Vincent Frouin

Jurgen Gallinat

Hugh Garavan

Penny Gowland

Andreas Heinz

Herve Lemaitre

Karl F Mann

Jean-Luc Martinot

Frauke Nees

Tomas Paus

Zdenka Pausova

Marcella Rietschel

Trevor W Robbins

Michael N Smolka

Rainer Spanagel

Andreas Strohle

Gunter Schumann

Mike Hawrylycz

Jean-Baptiste Poline

Michael D Greicius

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

During rest, brain activity is synchronized between different regions widely distributed throughout the brain, forming functional networks. However, the molecular mechanisms supporting functional connectivity remain undefined. We show that functional brain networks defined with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging can be recapitulated by using measures of correlated gene expression in a post mortem brain tissue data set. The set of 136 genes we identify is significantly enriched for ion channels. Polymorphisms in this set of genes significantly affect resting-state functional connectivity in a large sample of healthy adolescents. Expression levels of these genes are also significantly associated with axonal connectivity in the mouse. The results provide convergent, multimodal evidence that resting-state functional networks correlate with the orchestrated activity of dozens of genes linked to ion channel activity and synaptic function.

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