Hierarchical genetic organization of human cortical surface area.

Chen CH, Gutierrez ED, Thompson W, Panizzon MS, Jernigan TL, Eyler LT, Fennema-Notestine C, Jak AJ, Neale MC, Franz CE, Lyons MJ, Grant MD, Fischl B, Seidman LJ, Tsuang MT, Kremen WS, Dale AM.

Source

Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Abstract

Surface area of the cerebral cortex is a highly heritable trait, yet little is known about genetic influences on regional cortical differentiation in humans. Using a data-driven, fuzzy clustering technique with magnetic resonance imaging data from 406 twins, we parceled cortical surface area into genetic subdivisions, creating a human brain atlas based solely on genetically informative data. Boundaries of the genetic divisions corresponded largely to meaningful structural and functional regions; however, the divisions represented previously undescribed phenotypes different from conventional (non-genetically based) parcellation systems. The genetic organization of cortical area was hierarchical, modular, and predominantly bilaterally symmetric across hemispheres. We also found that the results were consistent with human-specific regions being subdivisions of previously described, genetically based lobar regionalization patterns.