An application of H-MAGMA to nine brain disorder GWAS enabled systematic delineation of pathogenic mechanisms of brain disorders. For example, one important question in psychiatry is whether a critical window exists for treatment of psychiatric disorders. Moreover, there is an ongoing debate whether adult onset disorders such as schizophrenia and depression have a neurodevelopmental origin. By comparing prenatal and postnatal expression trajectories, we found that genes associated with psychiatric disorders show remarkable developmental convergence onto mid-gestation, while genes associated with degenerative disorders were gradually increased across the life span, reflecting their increased burden upon aging.
