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Exploring the secrets of brain transcriptional regulation: developing methodologies, recent significant findings, and perspectives

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Abstract

Exploring and revealing the secret of the function of the human brain has been the dream of mankind and science. Delineating brain transcriptional regulation has been extremely challenging, but recent technological advances have facilitated a deeper investigation of molecular processes in the brain. Tracing the molecular regulatory mechanisms of different gene expression profiles in the brain is divergent and has made it possible to connect spatial and temporal variations in gene expression to distributed properties of brain structure and function. Here, we review the molecular diversity of the brain among rodents, non-human primates and humans. We also discuss the molecular mechanism of non-coding DNA/RNA at the transcriptional/post-transcriptional level based on recent technical advances to highlight an improved understanding of the complex transcriptional network in the brain. Spatiotemporal and single-cell transcriptomics have attempted to gain novel insight into the development and evolution of the brain as well as the progression of human diseases. Although it is clear that the field is developing and challenges remain to be resolved, the impressive recent progress provides a solid foundation to better understand the brain and evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81860644, 81560596, and 31560051), and Joint Special Project of Yunnan Science and Technology Department and Kunming Medical University (2019FE001-002)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650500, China

    Zhe Ding, Cen Yang & Fukai Bao

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650500, China

    Aihua Liu

  3. Yunnan Province Key Laboratory for Tropical Infectious Diseases, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650500, China

    Zhe Ding, Luyun Sun, Cen Yang, Aihua Liu & Fukai Bao

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  1. Zhe Ding
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  2. Luyun Sun
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Ding, Z., Sun, L., Yang, C. et al. Exploring the secrets of brain transcriptional regulation: developing methodologies, recent significant findings, and perspectives. Brain Struct Funct 226, 313–322 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02230-x

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