Dynamic Changes of Brain Cilia Transcriptomes across the Human Lifespan. 2021

Siwei Chen, and Wedad Alhassen, and Roudabeh Vakil Monfared, and Benjamin Vachirakorntong, and Surya M Nauli, and Pierre Baldi, and Amal Alachkar
Department of Computer Science, School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA.

Almost all brain cells contain primary cilia, antennae-like microtubule sensory organelles, on their surface, which play critical roles in brain functions. During neurodevelopmental stages, cilia are essential for brain formation and maturation. In the adult brain, cilia play vital roles as signaling hubs that receive and transduce various signals and regulate cell-to-cell communications. These distinct roles suggest that cilia functions, and probably structures, change throughout the human lifespan. To further understand the age-dependent changes in cilia roles, we identified and analyzed age-dependent patterns of expression of cilia's structural and functional components across the human lifespan. We acquired cilia transcriptomic data for 16 brain regions from the BrainSpan Atlas and analyzed the age-dependent expression patterns using a linear regression model by calculating the regression coefficient. We found that 67% of cilia transcripts were differentially expressed genes with age (DEGAs) in at least one brain region. The age-dependent expression was region-specific, with the highest and lowest numbers of DEGAs expressed in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, respectively. The majority of cilia DEGAs displayed upregulation with age in most of the brain regions. The transcripts encoding cilia basal body components formed the majority of cilia DEGAs, and adjacent cerebral cortices exhibited large overlapping pairs of cilia DEGAs. Most remarkably, specific α/β-tubulin subunits (TUBA1A, TUBB2A, and TUBB2B) and SNAP-25 exhibited the highest rates of downregulation and upregulation, respectively, across age in almost all brain regions. α/β-tubulins and SNAP-25 expressions are known to be dysregulated in age-related neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Our results support a role for the high dynamics of cilia structural and functional components across the lifespan in the normal physiology of brain circuits. Furthermore, they suggest a crucial role for cilia signaling in the pathophysiological mechanisms of age-related psychiatric/neurological disorders.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D008297 Male Males
D009419 Nerve Tissue Proteins Proteins, Nerve Tissue,Tissue Proteins, Nerve
D001921 Brain The part of CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM that is contained within the skull (CRANIUM). Arising from the NEURAL TUBE, the embryonic brain is comprised of three major parts including PROSENCEPHALON (the forebrain); MESENCEPHALON (the midbrain); and RHOMBENCEPHALON (the hindbrain). The developed brain consists of CEREBRUM; CEREBELLUM; and other structures in the BRAIN STEM. Encephalon
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D002675 Child, Preschool A child between the ages of 2 and 5. Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D002923 Cilia Populations of thin, motile processes found covering the surface of ciliates (CILIOPHORA) or the free surface of the cells making up ciliated EPITHELIUM. Each cilium arises from a basic granule in the superficial layer of CYTOPLASM. The movement of cilia propels ciliates through the liquid in which they live. The movement of cilia on a ciliated epithelium serves to propel a surface layer of mucus or fluid. (King & Stansfield, A Dictionary of Genetics, 4th ed) Motile Cilia,Motile Cilium,Nodal Cilia,Nodal Cilium,Primary Cilia,Primary Cilium,Cilium,Cilia, Motile,Cilia, Nodal,Cilia, Primary,Cilium, Motile,Cilium, Nodal,Cilium, Primary
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths

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