The relation between cortical gene expression and the neural correlates of risky behavior

Abstract

Risky behavior is a heritable trait that can have negative mental health consequences. It has been associated with variability in cortical structure and function, but the relation between cortex, gene expression and risky behavior remains unclear. Here we investigated associations of structural and functional cortical measures with risky behavior in UK Biobank data (N = 19,205) and examined relationships of the identified cortical patterns with regional gene expression. We found that expression of 49 genes that were previously associated with risky behavior (out of 152 tested) was linked to these cortical patterns. We also observed associations between the identified cortical patterns and gene expression related to psychiatric disorders and specific cortical cell types. Through whole-genome analysis, we selected all genes with expression linked to the identified cortical patterns and identified their associated biological pathways. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the translation of genetic predispositions into risky behavior. In a large dataset from the UK Biobank, the authors examine the relationships between regional gene expressions and structural and functional features of the cerebral cortex associated with risky behavior.