Human-specific evolutionary markers linked to foetal neurodevelopment modulate brain surface area in schizophrenia

Bibliographic Details
Title: Human-specific evolutionary markers linked to foetal neurodevelopment modulate brain surface area in schizophrenia
Authors: Maria Guardiola-Ripoll, Carmen Almodóvar-Payá, Angelo Arias-Magnasco, Mariona Latorre-Guardia, Sergi Papiol, Erick J. Canales-Rodríguez, María Ángeles García-León, Paola Fuentes-Claramonte, Josep Salavert, Josep Tristany, Llanos Torres, Elena Rodríguez-Cano, Raymond Salvador, Edith Pomarol-Clotet, Mar Fatjó-Vilas
Source: Communications Biology, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2023)
Publisher Information: Nature Portfolio, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Biology (General)
Subject Terms: Biology (General), QH301-705.5
More Details: Abstract Schizophrenia may represent a trade-off in the evolution of human-specific ontogenetic mechanisms that guide neurodevelopment. Human Accelerated Regions (HARs) are evolutionary markers functioning as neurodevelopmental transcription enhancers that have been associated with brain configuration, neural information processing, and schizophrenia risk. Here, we have investigated the influence of HARs’ polygenic load on neuroanatomical measures through a case-control approach (128 patients with schizophrenia and 115 controls). To this end, we have calculated the global schizophrenia Polygenic Risk Score (Global PRSSZ) and that specific to HARs (HARs PRSSZ). We have also estimated the polygenic burden restricted to the HARs linked to transcriptional regulatory elements active in the foetal brain (FB-HARs PRSSZ) and the adult brain (AB-HARs PRSSZ). We have explored the main effects of the PRSs and the PRSs x diagnosis interactions on brain regional cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA). The results indicate that a higher FB-HARs PRSSZ is associated with patients’ lower SA in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, the superior temporal cortex, the pars triangularis and the paracentral lobule. While noHARs-derived PRSs show an effect on the risk, our neuroanatomical findings suggest that the human-specific transcriptional regulation during the prenatal period underlies SA variability, highlighting the role of these evolutionary markers in the schizophrenia genomic architecture.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2399-3642
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2399-3642
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05356-2
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/65dda727008240329f9f7fc26b35ae4a
Accession Number: edsdoj.65dda727008240329f9f7fc26b35ae4a
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:23993642
DOI:10.1038/s42003-023-05356-2
Published in:Communications Biology
Language:English