Sex-biased gene and microRNA expression in the developing mouse brain is associated with neurodevelopmental functions and neurological phenotypes.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Sex differences pose a challenge and an opportunity in biomedical research. Understanding how sex chromosomes and hormones affect disease-causing mechanisms will shed light on the mechanisms underlying predominantly idiopathic sex-biased neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, schizophrenia, and autism. Gene expression is a crucial conduit for the influence of sex on developmental processes; therefore, this study focused on sex differences in gene expression and the regulation of gene expression. The increasing interest in microRNAs (miRNAs), small, non-coding RNAs, for their contribution to normal and pathological neurodevelopment prompted us to test how miRNA expression differs between the sexes in the developing brain. METHODS: High-throughput sequencing approaches were used to identify transcripts, including miRNAs, that showed significantly different expression between male and female brains on day 15.5 of development (E15.5). RESULTS: Robust sex differences were identified for some genes and miRNAs, confirming the influence of biological sex on RNA. Many miRNAs that exhibit the greatest differences between males and females have established roles in neurodevelopment, implying that sex-biased expression may drive sex differences in developmental processes. In addition to highlighting sex differences for individual miRNAs, gene ontology analysis suggested several broad categories in which sex-biased RNAs might act to establish sex differences in the embryonic mouse brain. Finally, mining publicly available SNP data indicated that some sex-biased miRNAs reside near the genomic regions associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these findings reinforce the importance of cataloguing sex differences in molecular biology research and highlight genes, miRNAs, and pathways of interest that may be important for sexual differentiation in the mouse and possibly the human brain.

In biomedical research, understanding the differences between males and females is essential for understanding diseases that affect one sex more than the other. This study focused on gene expression and regulation differences between male and female mouse brains during development. We found that many microRNAs, small molecules that play a role in development were expressed differently between male and female brains. These differences could be important in understanding why males and females develop differently, particularly regarding neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD, schizophrenia, and autism. We also found that some microRNAs that differed between males and females were located near genes associated with these disorders. Overall, the study highlights the importance of understanding sex differences in molecular biology research and provides insights into potential genes and pathways of interest for further study.