Comparative transcriptomics reveals human-specific cortical features

Science 2023 183 cites
2023:182024:432025:592026:63
2023 2026
183

Jorstad, Nikolas L. and Song, Janet H. T. and Exposito-Alonso, David and Suresh, Hamsini and Castro-Pacheco, Nathan and Krienen, Fenna M. and Yanny, Anna Marie and Close, Jennie and Gelfand, Emily and Long, Brian and Seeman, Stephanie C. and Travaglini, Kyle J. and Basu, Soumyadeep and Beaudin, Marc and Bertagnolli, Darren and Crow, Megan and Ding, Song-Lin and Eggermont, Jeroen and Glandon, Alexandra and Goldy, Jeff and Kiick, Katelyn and Kroes, Thomas and McMillen, Delissa and Pham, Trangthanh and Rimorin, Christine and Siletti, Kimberly and Somasundaram, Saroja and Tieu, Michael and Torkelson, Amy and Feng, Guoping and Hopkins, William D. and H{\"o}llt, Thomas and Keene, C. Dirk and Linnarsson, Sten and McCarroll, Steven A. and Lelieveldt, Boudewijn P. and Sherwood, Chet C. and Smith, Kimberly and Walsh, Christopher A. and Dobin, Alexander and Gillis, Jesse and Lein, Ed S. and Hodge, Rebecca D. and Bakken, Trygve E.

Abstract

The cognitive abilities of humans are distinctive among primates, but their molecular and cellular substrates are poorly understood. We used comparative single-nucleus transcriptomics to analyze samples of the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) from adult humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, rhesus macaques, and common marmosets to understand human-specific features of the neocortex. Human, chimpanzee, and gorilla MTG showed highly similar cell-type composition and laminar organization as well as a large shift in proportions of deep-layer intratelencephalic-projecting neurons compared with macaque and marmoset MTG. Microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes had more-divergent expression across species compared with neurons or oligodendrocyte precursor cells, and neuronal expression diverged more rapidly on the human lineage. Only a few hundred genes showed human-specific patterning, suggesting that relatively few cellular and molecular changes distinctively define adult human cortical structure.

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