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The molecular genetic landscape of human brain size variation

Seidlitz, Jakob ; Mallard, Travis T. ; Vogel, Jacob W. LU ; Lee, Younga H. ; Warrier, Varun ; Ball, Gareth ; Hansson, Oskar LU orcid ; Hernandez, Leanna M. ; Mandal, Ayan S. and Wagstyl, Konrad , et al. (2023) In Cell Reports 42(11).
Abstract

Human brain size changes dynamically through early development, peaks in adolescence, and varies up to 2-fold among adults. However, the molecular genetic underpinnings of interindividual variation in brain size remain unknown. Here, we leveraged postmortem brain RNA sequencing and measurements of brain weight (BW) in 2,531 individuals across three independent datasets to identify 928 genome-wide significant associations with BW. Genes associated with higher or lower BW showed distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories and spatial patterns that mapped onto functional and cellular axes of brain organization. Expression of BW genes was predictive of interspecies differences in brain size, and bioinformatic annotation revealed enrichment for... (More)

Human brain size changes dynamically through early development, peaks in adolescence, and varies up to 2-fold among adults. However, the molecular genetic underpinnings of interindividual variation in brain size remain unknown. Here, we leveraged postmortem brain RNA sequencing and measurements of brain weight (BW) in 2,531 individuals across three independent datasets to identify 928 genome-wide significant associations with BW. Genes associated with higher or lower BW showed distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories and spatial patterns that mapped onto functional and cellular axes of brain organization. Expression of BW genes was predictive of interspecies differences in brain size, and bioinformatic annotation revealed enrichment for neurogenesis and cell-cell communication. Genome-wide, transcriptome-wide, and phenome-wide association analyses linked BW gene sets to neuroimaging measurements of brain size and brain-related clinical traits. Cumulatively, these results represent a major step toward delineating the molecular pathways underlying human brain size variation in health and disease.

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publication status
published
subject
keywords
brain development, CP: Neuroscience, imaging genetics, psychiatric disorders, transcriptomics, TWAS
in
Cell Reports
volume
42
issue
11
article number
113439
publisher
Cell Press
external identifiers
  • pmid:37963017
  • scopus:85176956103
ISSN
2211-1247
DOI
10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113439
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the various open science initiatives, and their associated funding, that provided the necessary datasets used in this manuscript. J.S. and J.W.V. were supported by NIMH T32MH019112. A.F.A.-B. and J.S. were supported by NIMH K08MH120564. T.T.M. was supported by NHGRI T32HG010464. V.W. was supported by St. Catharine's College Cambridge. R.A.I.B. was supported by the Autism Research Trust. K.W. was supported by the Wellcome Trust (215901/Z/19/Z). T.D.S. was supported by NIH R01MH113550, R01MH120482, R01MH112847, R01EB022573, RF1MH121867, and R37MH125829. G.B. was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; Investigator Grant 1194497). We thank Mass General Brigham Biobank for providing genomic and health information data. Conceptualization, J.S. and A.F.A.-B.; methodology, J.S. T.T.M. M.J.G. and A.F.A.-B.; formal analysis, J.S. T.T.M. Y.H.L. L.M.H. S.T. B.N. C.G. T.G. and M.J.G.; resources, J.S. T.T.M. V.W. R.A.I.B. J.W.S. T.G. M.J.G. and A.F.A.-B.; data curation, J.S. T.T.M. J.W.V. Y.H.L. V.W. R.A.I.B. S.T. B.N. C.G. T.G. and M.J.G.; writing – original draft, J.S. T.T.M. M.J.G. and A.F.A.-B.; writing – review & editing, all authors; visualization, J.S. and T.T.M.; supervision, M.J.G. and A.F.A.-B.; project administration, J.S. and A.F.A.-B.; funding acquisition, J.S. and A.F.A.-B. J.S. R.A.I.B. J.D.B. and A.F.A.-B. are directors and hold equity in Centile Bioscience. J.D.B. holds positions/equity in UpFront Diagnostics, Treovir, and NeuroX1. A.F.A.-B. receives consulting income from Octave Bioscience. We support inclusive, diverse, and equitable conduct of research. Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the various open science initiatives, and their associated funding, that provided the necessary datasets used in this manuscript. J.S. and J.W.V. were supported by NIMH T32MH019112 . A.F.A.-B. and J.S. were supported by NIMH K08MH120564 . T.T.M. was supported by NHGRI T32HG010464 . V.W. was supported by St. Catharine’s College Cambridge . R.A.I.B. was supported by the Autism Research Trust . K.W. was supported by the Wellcome Trust ( 215901/Z/19/Z ). T.D.S. was supported by NIH R01MH113550 , R01MH120482 , R01MH112847 , R01EB022573 , RF1MH121867 , and R37MH125829 . G.B. was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; Investigator Grant 1194497 ). We thank Mass General Brigham Biobank for providing genomic and health information data. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors
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fd63c7ba-822e-4722-a349-d065e7f7097c
date added to LUP
2024-01-04 11:36:39
date last changed
2024-06-15 15:48:51
@article{fd63c7ba-822e-4722-a349-d065e7f7097c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Human brain size changes dynamically through early development, peaks in adolescence, and varies up to 2-fold among adults. However, the molecular genetic underpinnings of interindividual variation in brain size remain unknown. Here, we leveraged postmortem brain RNA sequencing and measurements of brain weight (BW) in 2,531 individuals across three independent datasets to identify 928 genome-wide significant associations with BW. Genes associated with higher or lower BW showed distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories and spatial patterns that mapped onto functional and cellular axes of brain organization. Expression of BW genes was predictive of interspecies differences in brain size, and bioinformatic annotation revealed enrichment for neurogenesis and cell-cell communication. Genome-wide, transcriptome-wide, and phenome-wide association analyses linked BW gene sets to neuroimaging measurements of brain size and brain-related clinical traits. Cumulatively, these results represent a major step toward delineating the molecular pathways underlying human brain size variation in health and disease.</p>}},
  author       = {{Seidlitz, Jakob and Mallard, Travis T. and Vogel, Jacob W. and Lee, Younga H. and Warrier, Varun and Ball, Gareth and Hansson, Oskar and Hernandez, Leanna M. and Mandal, Ayan S. and Wagstyl, Konrad and Lombardo, Michael V. and Courchesne, Eric and Glessner, Joseph T. and Satterthwaite, Theodore D. and Bethlehem, Richard A.I. and Bernstock, Joshua D. and Tasaki, Shinya and Ng, Bernard and Gaiteri, Chris and Smoller, Jordan W. and Ge, Tian and Gur, Raquel E. and Gandal, Michael J. and Alexander-Bloch, A. F.}},
  issn         = {{2211-1247}},
  keywords     = {{brain development; CP: Neuroscience; imaging genetics; psychiatric disorders; transcriptomics; TWAS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Cell Press}},
  series       = {{Cell Reports}},
  title        = {{The molecular genetic landscape of human brain size variation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113439}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113439}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}