To explore this further, we performed function enrichment analysis of the co-expression networks in the embryonic and adolescence brains. We expanded the networks to include non-differentially expressed genes that showed high co-expression correlations to the DEGs, because conceivably those genes were most likely to be affected by 22q11.2 deletion too. However, to reduce complexity we focused on functions of the top 10% of the most connected DEGs (n = 74) and the top 10% of non-DEGs with the greatest numbers of connections to the top DEGs (n = 300). In order to better illustrate the function relationships for the top 10% of connected genes, we utilized ClueGO [67] to define enriched GO terms and to visualize the non-redundant biological process GO terms (Figs. 6 and 7). This analysis uncovered several functional clusters of interest, which were different between the two developmental stages. For example, in the frontal cortex of the embryonic stage, the top 10% of connected genes were enriched with biological processes critical for cell cycle, cell differentiation, and cell growth in the embryonic stage (Fig. 6). Synaptic transmission
