Despite DNA Differences, Our Brains are Made of the Same Stuff: Research

Research supported by the National Institutes of Health has found that the human brain shows a "consistent molecular architecture" despite vast differences in the genetic code across individuals and ethnicities. The finding is from a pair of studies that have created databases revealing when and where genes turn on and off in multiple brain regions through development.

"Our study shows how 650,000 common genetic variations that make each of us a unique person may influence the ebb and flow of 24,000 genes in the most distinctly human part of our brain as we grow and age," explained Joel Kleinman, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Clinical Brain Disorders Branch.

Kleinman and NIMH grantee Nenad Sestan, M.D., Ph.D. of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., led the sister studies in the Oct. 27, 2011 issue of the journal Nature.



Source-Eurekalert