Comparative transcriptomics reveals human-specific cortical features

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 382; no. 6667; p. eade9516
• Main Authors: Jorstad, Nikolas L., Song, Janet H. T., Exposito-Alonso, David, Suresh, Hamsini, Castro-Pacheco, Nathan, Krienen, Fenna M., Yanny, Anna Marie, Close, Jennie, Gelfand, Emily, Long, Brian, Seeman, Stephanie C., Travaglini, Kyle J., Basu, Soumyadeep, Beaudin, Marc, Bertagnolli, Darren, Crow, Megan, Ding, Song-Lin, Eggermont, Jeroen, Glandon, Alexandra, Goldy, Jeff, Kiick, Katelyn, Kroes, Thomas, McMillen, Delissa, Pham, Trangthanh, Rimorin, Christine, Siletti, Kimberly, Somasundaram, Saroja, Tieu, Michael, Torkelson, Amy, Feng, Guoping, Hopkins, William D., Höllt, Thomas, Keene, C. Dirk, Linnarsson, Sten, McCarroll, Steven A., Lelieveldt, Boudewijn P., Sherwood, Chet C., Smith, Kimberly, Walsh, Christopher A., Dobin, Alexander, Gillis, Jesse, Lein, Ed S., Hodge, Rebecca D., Bakken, Trygve E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 13.10.2023
• Subjects: Animals; Apes; Biological evolution; Cerebral cortex; Chimpanzees; Cognition; Cognitive ability; Depth profiling; Divergence; Evolution; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene sequencing; Genes; Genomics; Gorilla gorilla - genetics; Hominidae - genetics; Hominidae - physiology; Humans; Language; Macaca mulatta - genetics; Monkeys & apes; Neocortex - physiology; Neural networks; Neuronal-glial interactions; Neurons; Pan troglodytes - genetics; Phylogeny; Primates; Signal transduction; snRNA; Species; Species Specificity; Synapses; Taxonomy; Temporal gyrus; Temporal lobe; Temporal Lobe - physiology; Transcriptome; Transcriptomics
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.ade9516

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.