%0 Journal Article
%A Dönertas, Handan Melike
%A Izgi, Hamit
%A Kamacioglu, Altug
%A He, Zhisong
%A Khaitovich, Philipp
%A Somel, Mehmet
%+ Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T Gene expression reversal toward pre-adult levels in the aging human brain and age-related loss of cellular identity : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-002D-B0D4-0
%R 10.1038/s41598-017-05927-4
%7 2017
%D 2017
%* Review method: peer-reviewed
%X It was previously reported that mRNA expression levels in the prefrontal cortex at old age start to resemble pre-adult levels. Such expression reversals could imply loss of cellular identity in the aging brain, and provide a link between aging-related molecular changes and functional decline. Here we analyzed 19 brain transcriptome age-series datasets, comprising 17 diverse brain regions, to investigate the ubiquity and functional properties of expression reversal in the human brain. Across all 19 datasets, 25 genes were consistently up-regulated during postnatal development and down-regulated in aging, displaying an “up-down” pattern that was significant as determined by random permutations. In addition, 113 biological processes, including neuronal and synaptic functions, were consistently associated with genes showing an up-down tendency among all datasets. Genes up-regulated during in vitro neuronal differentiation also displayed a tendency for up-down reversal, although at levels comparable to other genes. We argue that reversals may not represent aging-related neuronal loss. Instead, expression reversals may be associated with aging-related accumulation of stochastic effects that lead to loss of functional and structural identity in neurons.
%J Scientific Reports
%O Sci. Rep.
%V 7
%N 1
%]  5894 
%I Nature Publishing Group
%C London, UK
%@ 2045-2322