After quality control metrics were assessed, we performed quantile normalization and summarized core and unique probe sets, representing 17,565 protein-coding genes, into gene-level information. Employing stringent criteria (log2-transformed signal intensity ≥6 in at least one sample and mean DABG P<0.01 in at least one region and period) to define an “expressed” gene, we found that 15,132 (86.1%) of 17,565 genes surveyed were expressed in at least one brain region during at least one period, and 14,375 (81.8%) were expressed in at least one NCX area (Fig. 1a; Supplementary Information 6.1; Supplementary Fig. 9). To investigate the contribution of different factors to the global transcriptome dynamics, we applied multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) and principal component analysis (PCA), which revealed that regions and age (i.e., spatiotemporal dynamics) contribute more to the global differences in gene expression than other tested variables: sex, ethnicity, or inter-individual variation (Fig. 1b; Supplementary Information 6.2 and 6.3; Supplementary Figs 10 and 11).
