Gene expression in the human brain

National Institute On Aging

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

In the current reporting period, we have been applying single cell technology to look at effects of both genetic and demographic factors on gene expression in human brain. We have contributed to a large effort to look at the effects of sex differences on expression, finding that there are large numbers of cells that show sex-biased expression across different brain regions, reflecting prior identification of sex-biased volumetric differences in living subjects. We have also initiated studies to look at DNA methylation across the brain using our previously described North American Brain Expression Consortium samples using long read sequencing. These results have established proof of concept that we can identify methylation signals that are genetically determined, specially around the APOE locus. Finally, we have some data in collaboration with other NIA labs that show further feasibility for long-read sequencing of mRNA in single brain cells, albeit in mice. Our results show that there are changes in RNA isoform usage with aging across different cell types in hippocampus and cerebral cortex.