Sex Differences in Brain Transcriptomes of Juvenile Cynomolgus Macaques
Background: Behavioral, social, and physical characteristics are posited to distinguish the sexes, yet research on transcription-level sexual differences in the brain is limited. Here, we investigated sexually divergent brain transcriptomics in pre-pubertal cynomolgus macaques, a commonly used surro...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-05-01
|
| Series: | Biomolecules |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/15/5/671 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Background: Behavioral, social, and physical characteristics are posited to distinguish the sexes, yet research on transcription-level sexual differences in the brain is limited. Here, we investigated sexually divergent brain transcriptomics in pre-pubertal cynomolgus macaques, a commonly used surrogate species to humans. Methods: A transcriptomic profile using RNA sequencing was generated for the temporal lobe, ventral midbrain, and cerebellum of three female and three male cynomolgus macaques previously treated with an adeno-associated virus vector mix. Statistical analyses to determine differentially expressed protein-coding genes in all three lobes were conducted using DeSeq2 with a false-discovery-rate-corrected <i>p</i>-value of 0.05. Results: We identified target genes in the temporal lobe, ventral midbrain, and cerebellum with functions in translation, immunity, behavior, and neurological disorders that exhibited statistically significant sexually divergent expression. Conclusions: We provide potential mechanistic insights into the epidemiological differences observed between the sexes with regard to mental health and infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Our results provide pre-pubertal information on sexual differences in non-human primate brain transcriptomics and may provide insight into health disparities between the biological sexes in humans. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2218-273X |