Gegenhuber, B., Tollkuhn, J. (January 2020) Signatures of Sex: Sex Differences in Gene Expression in the Vertebrate Brain. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol, 9 (1). e348.
Abstract
Women and men differ in disease prevalence, symptoms, and progression rates for many psychiatric and neurological disorders. As more preclinical studies include both sexes in experimental design, an increasing number of sex differences in physiology and behavior have been reported. In the brain, sex-typical behaviors are thought to result from sex-specific patterns of neural activity in response to the same sensory stimulus or context. These differential firing patterns likely arise as a consequence of underlying anatomic or molecular sex differences. Accordingly, gene expression in the brains of females and males has been extensively investigated, with the goal of identifying biological pathways that specify or modulate sex differences in brain function. However, there is surprisingly little consensus on sex-biased genes across studies and only a handful of robust candidates have been pursued in the follow-up experiments. Furthermore, it is not known how or when sex-biased gene expression originates, as few studies have been performed in the developing brain. Here we integrate molecular genetic and neural circuit perspectives to provide a conceptual framework of how sex differences in gene expression can arise in the brain. We detail mechanisms of gene regulation by steroid hormones, highlight landmark studies in rodents and humans, identify emerging themes, and offer recommendations for future research.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | bioinformatics bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > genes, structure and function > gene expression bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > genes, structure and function |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Tollkuhn lab School of Biological Sciences > Publications |
| Depositing User: | Adrian Gomez |
| Date: | January 2020 |
| Date Deposited: | 11 May 2020 14:01 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Jan 2024 21:21 |
| PMCID: | PMC6864223 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/39353 |
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