Differentially expressed genes among motor and prefrontal areas of macaque monkey neocortex

Motor-related areas of neocortex are highly differentiated into several subareas from both functional and cytoarchitectural aspects in the higher primates. To assess the molecular basis of such areal specialization, we investigated the gene expression profiles of primary motor area (M1), premotor area (dorsal and ventral) (PMd and PMv) and prefrontal area (A46) in the rhesus monkey by DNA microarray method. We found that 476 genes were differentially expressed among those areas. More than half of those genes were most abundantly expressed in M1, and most genes were complementarily expressed between M1 and A46. The expression profiles of PMd and PMv were similar to each other compared to those of M1 and A46. The data will give us a fundamental basis for further analysis of structure-function relationship of the primate brain.

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Sato A, Nishimura Y, Oishi T, Higo N, Murata Y, Onoe H, Saito K, Tsuboi F, Takahashi M, Isa T, Kojima T