Walt Whitman’s famous line, “I am large, I contain multitudes,” has gained a new level of biological relevance.
As we grow, our brain cells develop different genomes from one another, according to new research from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.The study, published Oct. 2 in Science, shows for the first time that mutations in somatic cells—that is, any cell in the body except sperm and eggs—are present in significant numbers in the brains of healthy people. This finding lays the foundation for exploring the role of these post-conception mutations in human development and disease.
“A lot of people have been asking lately whether somatic mutations contribute to a range of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases, but they couldn’t answer the question because of the limitations of technology,” said the study’s co-senior author, Peter Park, associate professor of biomedical informatics at HMS.
The research team was able to make headway on the problem by combining single-cell genome sequencing with rigorous data analysis techniques.Already, the researchers have discovered that somatic mutations appear to occur more often in the genes a neuron uses most. They have also been able to trace brain cell lineages based on patterns of mutation.
“These mutations are durable memory for where a cell came from and what it has been up to,” said the study’s co-senior author, Christopher A. Walsh, the HMS Bullard Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and chief of the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children’s. “This work is a proof of principle that if we wanted to, and if we had unlimited resources, we could actually decode the whole pattern of development of the human brain.”
“I believe this method will also tell us a lot about healthy and unhealthy aging as well as what makes our brains different from those of other animals,” Walsh added.
- A Natural History of Neurons
As we grow, our brain cells develop different genomes from one another, according to new research from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.The study, published Oct. 2 in Science, shows for the first time that mutations in somatic cells—that is, any cell in the body except sperm and eggs—are present in significant numbers in the brains of healthy people. This finding lays the foundation for exploring the role of these post-conception mutations in human development and disease.
“A lot of people have been asking lately whether somatic mutations contribute to a range of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases, but they couldn’t answer the question because of the limitations of technology,” said the study’s co-senior author, Peter Park, associate professor of biomedical informatics at HMS.
The research team was able to make headway on the problem by combining single-cell genome sequencing with rigorous data analysis techniques.Already, the researchers have discovered that somatic mutations appear to occur more often in the genes a neuron uses most. They have also been able to trace brain cell lineages based on patterns of mutation.
“These mutations are durable memory for where a cell came from and what it has been up to,” said the study’s co-senior author, Christopher A. Walsh, the HMS Bullard Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and chief of the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children’s. “This work is a proof of principle that if we wanted to, and if we had unlimited resources, we could actually decode the whole pattern of development of the human brain.”
“I believe this method will also tell us a lot about healthy and unhealthy aging as well as what makes our brains different from those of other animals,” Walsh added.
- A Natural History of Neurons
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