Gene expression in the rat brain: high similarity but unique differences between frontomedial-, temporal- and occipital cortex.
BACKGROUND
The six-layered neocortex of the mammalian brain may appear largely homologous, but is in reality a modular structure of anatomically and functionally distinct areas. However, global gene expression seems to be almost identical across the cerebral cortex and only a few genes have so far been reported to show regional enrichment in specific cortical areas.


RESULTS
In the present study on adult rat brain, we have corroborated the strikingly similar gene expression among cortical areas. However, differential expression analysis has allowed for the identification of 30, 24 and 11 genes enriched in frontomedial -, temporal- or occipital cortex, respectively. A large proportion of these 65 genes appear to be involved in signal transduction, including the ion channel Fxyd6, the neuropeptide Grp and the nuclear receptor Rorb. We also find that the majority of these genes display increased expression levels around birth and show distinct preferences for certain cortical layers and cell types in rodents.


CONCLUSIONS
Since specific patterns of expression often are linked to equally specialised biological functions, we propose that these cortex sub-region enriched genes are important for proper functioning of the cortical regions in question.
Dr E. Martens Research Group for Biological Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Norway. Christine.Stansberg@uib.no
Christine
C
Stansberg
Kari M
KM
Ersland
Paul
P
van der Valk
Vidar M
VM
Steen
D000818:Animals; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Oct 28;100(22):13030-5
14557539
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Jul 19;102(29):10357-62
16002470
Anal Biochem. 1999 May 15;270(1):41-9
10328763
J Neurosci. 2006 Jan 4;26(1):345-53
16399705
Nat Neurosci. 2006 Jan;9(1):99-107
16369481
Bioinformatics. 2001 Apr;17(4):369-70
11301307
Dev Biol. 2009 Mar 1;327(1):132-42
19111533
EMBO J. 1997 Jun 2;16(11):3145-57
9214632
Nucleic Acids Res. 2005 Jan 1;33(Database issue):D284-8
15608197
Neurosci Res. 2006 May;55(1):11-27
16546282
Trends Neurosci. 1995 Sep;18(9):373-9
7482801
BMC Genomics. 2007 Apr 04;8:94
17408481
Science. 2005 Jun 17;308(5729):1794-8
15894532
Development. 1999 Feb;126(4):629-38
9895311
Cereb Cortex. 2004 Sep;14(9):1031-44
15142957
PLoS Genet. 2007 Apr 20;3(4):e59
17447843
Nature. 2007 Jan 11;445(7124):168-76
17151600
Neuron. 2007 Oct 25;56(2):252-69
17964244
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2008 Feb;18(1):90-100
18524571
Nucleic Acids Res. 2006 Jul 1;34(Web Server issue):W645-50
16912992
Science. 1988 Jul 8;241(4862):170-6
3291116
Genome Res. 2004 Aug;14(8):1462-73
15289471
J Neurosci. 2008 Jan 2;28(1):264-78
18171944
J Neurosci. 2006 Aug 9;26(32):8398-408
16899735
Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 2001 Mar 31;88(1-2):74-82
11295233
Biotechniques. 2003 Feb;34(2):374-8
12613259
Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1277-86
17828260
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2006 Feb;16(1):25-34
16426837
Neurosci Lett. 2003 Apr 3;340(1):65-8
12648760
J Biol. 2004;3(5):21
15588312
Cereb Cortex. 2008 Jan;18(1):53-66
17478416
PLoS One. 2008 Sep 25;3(9):e3266
18815614
J Neurobiol. 2006 Dec;66(14):1646-58
17013924
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Nov 6;104(45):17849-54
17978184
Eur J Neurosci. 2007 Jul;26(1):33-50
17614941
Development. 2005 Sep;132(17):3947-61
16079153
J Neurosci. 2000 Oct 15;20(20):7682-90
11027229
Mol Cell Neurosci. 2005 Feb;28(2):205-14
15691703
Neurosci Res. 1994 Aug;20(2):131-5
7808696
Neurogenetics. 2006 May;7(2):67-80
16572319
Trends Neurosci. 1995 Sep;18(9):408-17
7482807
Physiol Genomics. 2000 Apr 27;2(3):143-7
11015593
Cereb Cortex. 2007 Sep;17(9):2108-22
17150988
Trends Neurosci. 1989 Oct;12(10):400-6
2479138
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Apr 24;98(9):5116-21
11309499
Mol Cell Neurosci. 2006 Oct;33(2):136-49
16919471
Nat Genet. 2007 Dec;39(12):1494-9
17982457
Genes Brain Behav. 2006;5 Suppl 1:38-43
16417616