Scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature that human brains share a consistent
genetic2 blueprint3 and possess enormous biochemical
complexity4. The findings stem from the first deep and large-scale analysis of the vast data set publicly available in the Allen Human Brain
Atlas5. The results of this study are based on extensive analysis of the Allen Human Brain Atlas, specifically the
detailed6 all-
genes7, all-structures survey of genes at work throughout the human brain. This dataset profiles 400 to 500 distinct brain areas per hemisphere using
microarray（微阵列） technology and comprises more than 100 million
gene1 expression measurements covering three individual human brains to date. Among other findings, these data show that 84% of all genes are expressed somewhere in the human brain and in patterns that are substantially similar from one brain to the next.
"This study demonstrates the value of a global analysis of gene expression throughout the entire brain and has implications for understanding brain function, development, evolution and disease," said Ed Lein, Ph.D., Associate
Investigator8 at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and co-lead author on the paper. "These results only scratch the surface of what can be learned from this immense data set. We look forward to seeing what others will discover."
Key Findings
The results of this study show that, despite the
myriad9（无数的） personalities10 and
cognitive11 talents seen across the human population, our brains are more similar to one another than different. Individual human brains share the same basic
molecular12 blueprint, and deeper analysis of this shared architecture reveals several further findings:
Neighboring regions of the brain's cortex（皮质，树皮） -- the wrinkly outer rind -- are more biochemically similar to one another than to more distant brain regions, which has implications for understanding the development of the human brain, both during the lifespan and throughout evolution.
The right and left hemispheres show no significant differences in molecular architecture. This suggests that functions such as language, which are generally handled by one side of the brain, likely result from more subtle differences between hemispheres or structural13 variation in size or circuitry, but not from a deeper molecular basis.
Despite controlling a diversity of functions, ranging from visual perception to planning and problem-solving, the cortex is highly homogeneous relative to other brain regions. This suggests that the same basic functional14 elements are used throughout the cortex and that understanding how one area works in detail will uncover fundamentals that apply to the other areas, as well.
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