Heritability of individualized cortical network topography

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human Brain Mapping
• Behavioral Genetics

Background:

• Human cortical networks exhibit individual variations in size and spatial organization.
• Understanding the genetic basis of these variations is crucial for interpreting brain function and behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the extent to which genetic factors influence interindividual differences in cortical network size and topography.
• To compare the heritability of network organization between unimodal sensory/motor and heteromodal association cortices.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a nonlinear multidimensional estimation of heritability.
• Analyzed twin and family data from the Human Connectome Project (n = 1,023).
• Applied multidimensional heritability estimation (h²-multi) to assess spatial network layout.

Main Results:

• Individual variability in cortical network size and topographic organization is under genetic control.
• Heteromodal association networks showed increased variability and reduced heritability (h²: M=0.34) compared to unimodal sensory/motor cortex (h²: M=0.40).
• Genetic factors influenced the spatial layout of cortical networks (h²-multi: M=0.14), with the greatest heritability observed in prefrontal, precuneus, and posterior parietal cortex.

Conclusions:

• Genetic factors play a significant role in shaping the human brain's functional network organization.
• Association cortices appear to have more relaxed genetic control compared to primary sensory/motor regions.
• These findings have implications for understanding population variability in brain function and integrating genetics with neuroimaging.