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PMID: 14557539 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Elevated gene expression levels distinguish human from non-human primate brains.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 100 ·No. 22 ·2003-10-28 ·Pages 13030-5

Cáceres M, Lachuer J, Zapala MA, Redmond JC, Kudo L, Geschwind DH, Lockhart DJ, Preuss TM, Barlow C

Abstract

Little is known about how the human brain differs from that of our closest relatives. To investigate the genetic basis of human specializations in brain organization and cognition, we compared gene expression profiles for the cerebral cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques by using several independent techniques. We identified 169 genes that exhibited expression differences between human and chimpanzee cortex, and 91 were ascribed to the human lineage by using macaques as an outgroup. Surprisingly, most differences between the brains of humans and non-human primates involved up-regulation, with approximately 90% of the genes being more highly expressed in humans. By contrast, in the comparison of human and chimpanzee heart and liver, the numbers of up- and down-regulated genes were nearly identical. Our results indicate that the human brain displays a distinctive pattern of gene expression relative to non-human primates, with higher expression levels for many genes belonging to a wide variety of functional classes. The increased expression of these genes could provide the basis for extensive modifications of cerebral physiology and function in humans and suggests that the human brain is characterized by elevated levels of neuronal activity.

MeSH Terms
Animals Brain/physiology Cerebral Cortex/physiology DNA, Complementary/genetics Gene Expression Hominidae/genetics Humans In Situ Hybridization Macaca mulatta/genetics Molecular Sequence Data Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Pan troglodytes/genetics Primates/genetics Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Species Specificity
Chemicals
DNA, Complementary
Authors & Affiliations
9 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Cáceres Mario
Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Lachuer Joel
Zapala Matthew A
Redmond John C
Kudo Lili
Geschwind Daniel H
Lockhart David J
Preuss Todd M
Barlow Carrolee
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2135499100
Published
2003-10-28
Epub
2003-00-13
Pages
13030-5
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC240739
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
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External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2135499100 PMC Full Text View journal details
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