Allen腦科學(xué)研究所的科學(xué)家們通過分析大腦中大約1000個(gè)基因表達(dá),，發(fā)現(xiàn)了人類和小鼠大腦區(qū)域之間的相似之處和差異,。相關(guān)研究成果在線發(fā)表在Cell雜志上。
這項(xiàng)研究揭示了人類個(gè)體之間的相似程度高,。在三個(gè)特定區(qū)域的研究顯示近1000個(gè)基因中只有5％在人與人之間有表達(dá)差異。此外，通過Allen老鼠大腦圖譜數(shù)據(jù)集的比較,，發(fā)現(xiàn)人類和小鼠之間有很大的一致性，人類視覺皮層與老鼠有79％的基因表達(dá)是相似的,。
研究中的幾項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)指出了人類和小鼠之間的差異和相似之處,。由于老鼠是研究人類大腦功能和疾病中最常見的動(dòng)物模型，了解老鼠為什么能用來研究人類大腦功能和疾病是很關(guān)鍵的,。
據(jù)這項(xiàng)研究稱,，只有21％的基因表達(dá)在人類和老鼠之間的視覺皮層表現(xiàn)出差異性，但這些差異的性質(zhì)可能會(huì)提示我們?yōu)槭裁次覀內(nèi)祟愂仟?dú)特的,。
到目前為止,，其他研究人類基因表達(dá)的研究只關(guān)注于大腦的部分區(qū)域或選擇沒有具體解剖信息的基因組。人類大腦數(shù)據(jù)集以及Allen小鼠腦地圖集公布的研究數(shù)百表明：高分辨率,、細(xì)胞層次的基因表達(dá)譜研究有助于科學(xué)家了解大量有關(guān)的基因是如何影響細(xì)胞類型,、神經(jīng)回路和最終腦功能的。（生物谷：Bioon.com）
doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.02.052
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Large-Scale Cellular-Resolution Gene Profiling in Human Neocortex Reveals Species-Specific Molecular Signatures
Hongkui Zeng, Elaine H. Shen, John G. Hohmann, Seung Wook Oh, Amy Bernard, Joshua J. Royall, Katie J. Glattfelder, Susan M. Sunkin, John A. Morris, Angela L. Guillozet-Bongaarts, Kimberly A. Smith, Amanda J. Ebbert, Beryl Swanson, Leonard Kuan, Damon T. Page, Caroline C. Overly, Ed S. Lein, Michael J. Hawrylycz, Patrick R. Hof, Thomas M. Hyde, Joel E. Kleinman, Allan R. Jones
Although there have been major advances in elucidating the functional biology of the human brain, relatively little is known of its cellular and molecular organization. Here we report a large-scale characterization of the expression of 1,000 genes important for neural functions by in situ hybridization at a cellular resolution in visual and temporal cortices of adult human brains. These data reveal diverse gene expression patterns and remarkable conservation of each individual gene's expression among individuals (95%), cortical areas (84%), and between human and mouse (79%). A small but substantial number of genes (21%) exhibited species-differential expression. Distinct molecular signatures, comprised of genes both common between species and unique to each, were identified for each major cortical cell type. The data suggest that gene expression profile changes may contribute to differential cortical function across species, and in particular, a shift from corticosubcortical to more predominant corticocortical communications in the human brain.
