Genetic mapping and evolutionary analysis of human-expanded cognitive networks

Yongbin Wei, Siemon C. de Lange, Lianne H. Scholtens, Kyoko Watanabe, Dirk Jan Ardesch, Philip R. Jansen, Jeanne E. Savage, Longchuan Li, Todd M. Preuss, James K. Rilling, Danielle Posthuma and Martijn P. van den Heuvel ()
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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 School of Medicine
Todd M. Preuss: Emory University
James K. Rilling: Emory University
Danielle Posthuma: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Martijn P. van den Heuvel: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12764-8

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