gene expression associated with individual variability in intrinsic functional connectivity

• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5606487
• Publication Date: 2021-06-01
• Authors: Liangfang Li; Yongbin Wei; Jinbo Zhang; Junji Ma; Yangyang Yi; Yue Gu; Liman Man Wai Li; Ying Lin; Zhengjia Dai
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Gene Expression Profiling; Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; 3. Good health; Functional connectivity; 03 medical and health sciences; Metabolism; 0302 clinical medicine; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Connectome; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Humans; Resting-state fMRI; Gene expression; Intersubject variability; RC321-571

AbstractIt has been revealed that intersubject variability (ISV) in intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) is associated with a wide variety of cognitive and behavioral performances. However, the underlying organizational principle of ISV in FC and its related gene transcriptional profiles remain unclear. Using resting-state fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project (299 participants) and microarray gene expression data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas, we conducted a transcription-neuroimaging association study to investigate the spatial configurations of ISV in intrinsic FC and their associations with gene transcriptional profiles. We found that the multimodal association cortices showed the greatest ISV in FC, while the unimodal cortices and subcortical areas showed the least ISV. Importantly, partial least squares regression analysis revealed that the transcriptional profiles of genes associated with human accelerated regions (HARs) could explain 31.29% of the variation in the spatial distribution of ISV in FC. The top-related genes in the transcriptional profiles were enriched for the development of the central nervous system, neurogenesis and the cellular components of synapse. Moreover, we observed that the effect of gene expression profile on the heterogeneous distribution of ISV in FC was significantly mediated by the cerebral blood flow configuration. These findings highlighted the spatial arrangement of ISV in FC and their coupling with variations in transcriptional profiles and cerebral blood flow supply.