Brain development is a very complex, dynamic, and multistage process that involves precisely orchestrated sequence of cellular and molecular events (Silbereis et al., 2016). This development begins within weeks of conception (∼third gestational week) and continues through the adolescence (Stiles and Jernigan, 2010). Many controlled morphogenesis processes such as cell division, differentiation, migration, and neural fate specifications generate distinct parts that are cooperatively functional in architecture of the brain (Anderson et al., 2013). Of all brain regions, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (the anterior part of the frontal lobe) coordinates a wide range of cognitive processes whose cardinal role is mediating complex behaviors rather than basic cognitive activities (Frith and Dolan, 1996). Malfunctioning of the PFC is greatly linked to many human cognitive problems (Siddiqui et al., 2008) as well as psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder (Clark and Sahakian, 2008; Abé et al., 2015), schizophrenia (Wible et al., 2001), attention-deficit or hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Vaidya, 2011), drug addiction (Goldstein and Volkow, 2011), autism (Goldberg et al., 2011), and depression (Koenigs and Grafman, 2009). Thus, understanding the details of molecular events that occur during maturation of this part may be an important issue for resolving various dilemmas concerning such phenotypes. PFC comprises four distinct parts including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DFC), medial prefrontal cortex (MFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VFC), and orbital frontal cortex (OFC) which have subtle differences in their physiology and tasks during human lifetime (Yu et al., 2016). Although there is a functional connectivity throughout PFC and also throughout whole brain (Pessoa, 2014), most studies surveyed the physical and functional changes during maturation of PFC and there is little known about the genetic and molecular changes across the developing human brain. Since, expression alteration in a subset of genes may be critical to drive one premature developmental stage to the next (Erraji-Benchekroun et al., 2005), it is of great importance to find and analyze the genes responsible for each developmental stages. Interestingly, BrainSpan database is the atlas of the developing human brain providing a detailed global characterization and comparison of the genes separately expressed by 26 different brain regions during 12 developmental times. This article exploits the RNA-seq data of this database to depict the major molecular events occurred during development of PFC from its early embryonic state through adolescence.

中文翻译：

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通过分析BrainSpan的RNA-Seq数据，鉴定涉及额叶前皮质发育的分子事件。

大脑发育是一个非常复杂，动态且多阶段的过程，涉及细胞和分子事件的精确编排序列（Silbereis等，2016）。这种发育开始于受孕的几周内（约第三个孕周），一直持续到青春期（Stiles和Jernigan，2010年）。许多受控的形态发生过程（例如细胞分裂，分化，迁移和神经命运规范）会生成在大脑结构中具有协同功能的不同部分（Anderson等，2013）。在所有大脑区域中，前额叶皮层（PFC）（额叶的前部）协调着广泛的认知过程，其主要作用是介导复杂的行为而不是基本的认知活动（Frith and Dolan，1996）。PFC的功能失常与许多人类认知问题（Siddiqui等，2008）以及精神疾病如双相情感障碍（Clark和Sahakian，2008;Abé等，2015），精神分裂症（Wible等。 （2001），注意力不足或活动过度障碍（ADHD）（Vaidya，2011），药物成瘾（Goldstein和Volkow，2011），自闭症（Goldberg等，2011）和抑郁症（Koenigs和Grafman，2009）。因此，了解该部分成熟过程中发生的分子事件的细节可能是解决有关此类表型的各种难题的重要问题。PFC包含四个不同的部分，包括背外侧前额皮质（DFC），内侧前额皮质（MFC），腹外侧前额皮质（VFC），和眶额叶皮层（OFC）在人类一生中的生理和任务上都有细微的差异（Yu et al。，2016）。尽管整个PFC以及整个大脑都有功能连通性（Pessoa，2014年），但大多数研究调查了PFC成熟过程中的物理和功能变化，而关于发育中的人类大脑的遗传和分子变化知之甚少。因为，基因子集中的表达改变对于将一个过早的发育阶段推向下一阶段可能是至关重要的（Erraji-Benchekroun等人，2005），因此找到并分析负责每个发育阶段的基因非常重要。有趣的是 BrainSpan数据库是人类大脑发育的地图集，提供了详细的全局特征以及在12个发育时期中由26个不同的大脑区域分别表达的基因的比较。本文利用该数据库的RNA-seq数据来描述PFC从早期胚胎状态到青春期发育过程中发生的主要分子事件。