PMID- 22666384 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20121029 LR - 20211021 IS - 1932-6203 (Electronic) IS - 1932-6203 (Linking) VI - 7 IP - 5 DP - 2012 TI - Dynamic gene expression in the human cerebral cortex distinguishes children from adults. PG - e37714 LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0037714 [doi] LID - e37714 AB - In comparison with other primate species, humans have an extended juvenile period during which the brain is more plastic. In the current study we sought to examine gene expression in the cerebral cortex during development in the context of this adaptive plasticity. We introduce an approach designed to discriminate genes with variable as opposed to uniform patterns of gene expression and found that greater inter-individual variance is observed among children than among adults. For the 337 transcripts that show this pattern, we found a significant overrepresentation of genes annotated to the immune system process (pFDR ~/= 0). Moreover, genes known to be important in neuronal function, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), are included among the genes more variably expressed in childhood. We propose that the developmental period of heightened childhood neuronal plasticity is characterized by more dynamic patterns of gene expression in the cerebral cortex compared to adulthood when the brain is less plastic. That an overabundance of these genes are annotated to the immune system suggests that the functions of these genes can be thought of not only in the context of antigen processing and presentation, but also in the context of nervous system development. FAU - Sterner, Kirstin N AU - Sterner KN AD - Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America. FAU - Weckle, Amy AU - Weckle A FAU - Chugani, Harry T AU - Chugani HT FAU - Tarca, Adi L AU - Tarca AL FAU - Sherwood, Chet C AU - Sherwood CC FAU - Hof, Patrick R AU - Hof PR FAU - Kuzawa, Christopher W AU - Kuzawa CW FAU - Boddy, Amy M AU - Boddy AM FAU - Abbas, Asad AU - Abbas A FAU - Raaum, Ryan L AU - Raaum RL FAU - Gregoire, Lucie AU - Gregoire L FAU - Lipovich, Leonard AU - Lipovich L FAU - Grossman, Lawrence I AU - Grossman LI FAU - Uddin, Monica AU - Uddin M FAU - Goodman, Morris AU - Goodman M FAU - Wildman, Derek E AU - Wildman DE LA - eng PT - Comparative Study PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. DEP - 20120530 PL - United States TA - PLoS One JT - PloS one JID - 101285081 SB - IM MH - Adult MH - Aging/*genetics/immunology MH - Cerebral Cortex/cytology/immunology/*metabolism MH - Child MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Male MH - Neuroglia/immunology/metabolism MH - Neurons/immunology/metabolism MH - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis MH - Polymerase Chain Reaction MH - Reproducibility of Results MH - *Transcriptome PMC - PMC3364291 COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. EDAT- 2012/06/06 06:00 MHDA- 2012/10/30 06:00 PMCR- 2012/05/30 CRDT- 2012/06/06 06:00 PHST- 2011/09/15 00:00 [received] PHST- 2012/04/27 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2012/06/06 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2012/06/06 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2012/10/30 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2012/05/30 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - PONE-D-11-18065 [pii] AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0037714 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e37714. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037714. Epub 2012 May 30.