Chunk #45 — Dynamics of Gene Expression in the Brain through the Life-Span — Program of developmental changes of gene expression in the brain through the life-span
A global view on transcriptional dynamics across the human lifespan (Colantuoni, et al., 2011) suggests that there are several redirections of transcriptional age-related change that are most pronounced after birth, then reoccur at the end of the teenage years; after that, relatively constant transcriptional status is observed through adulthood until the age of 60 years. It was found that, while initially reversed in early postnatal life compared to the fetal stage, the transcriptional pattern of the brain is mirrored a half century later in further reversals of the transcriptome in aging (Colantuoni, et al., 2011). The study of mRNA microRNA (miRNA) and protein expression in the prefrontal cortex of humans from birth to more than 100 years of age have also provided evidence that most gene expression changes occurring in aging represent extensions or reversals of patterns that are observed in the early developing brain: approximately 10-15% of genes exhibit opposite trends of expression changes with aging (Somel, et al., 2010).
