Interhemispheric gene expression differences in the cerebral cortex of humans and macaque monkeys.
Handedness and language are two well-studied examples of asymmetrical brain function in humans. Approximately 90% of humans exhibit a right-hand preference, and the vast majority shows left-hemisphere dominance for language function. Although genetic models of human handedness and language have been proposed, the actual gene expression differences between cerebral hemispheres in humans remain to be fully defined. In the present study, gene expression profiles were examined in both hemispheres of three cortical regions involved in handedness and language in humans and their homologues in rhesus macaques: ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior superior temporal cortex (STC), and primary motor cortex. Although the overall pattern of gene expression was very similar between hemispheres in both humans and macaques, weighted gene correlation network analysis revealed gene co-expression modules associated with hemisphere, which are different among the three cortical regions examined. Notably, a receptor-enriched gene module in STC was particularly associated with hemisphere and showed different expression levels between hemispheres only in humans.
Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA. gerard.muntane@upf.edu.|Institut Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat Pompeu Fabra-CSIC, 08003, Barcelona, Spain. gerard.muntane@upf.edu.
Gerard
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1541-8365
G
Muntané
Institut Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat Pompeu Fabra-CSIC, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
Gabriel
G
Santpere
Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
Andrey
A
Verendeev
Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
William W
WW
Seeley
Laboratory of Quantitative Neuromorphology, Neuroscience Program, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, USA.
Bob
B
Jacobs
Neuroscience Institute and the Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30302, USA.
William D
WD
Hopkins
Institut Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat Pompeu Fabra-CSIC, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
Arcadi
A
Navarro
Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.
Chet C
CC
Sherwood
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D054022:Cerebrum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013045:Species Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
Brain asymmetry; Brain evolution; Cerebral cortex; Gene networks; Language; WGCNA