Browsing by Author "Kere, Juha"

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  • Developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes DNAAF4, DCDC2, and NRSN1 are associated with brain function in fluently reading adolescents and young adults
    (2024-04) Rinne, Nea; Wikman, Patrik; Sahari, Elisa; Salmi, Juha; Einarsdóttir, Elisabet; Kere, Juha; Alho, Kimmo
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Reading skills and developmental dyslexia, characterized by difficulties in developing reading skills, have been associated with brain anomalies within the language network. Genetic factors contribute to developmental dyslexia risk, but the mechanisms by which these genes influence reading skills remain unclear. In this preregistered study (https://osf.io/7sehx), we explored if developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes DNAAF4, DCDC2, NRSN1, and KIAA0319 are associated with brain function in fluently reading adolescents and young adults. Functional MRI and task performance data were collected during tasks involving written and spoken sentence processing, and DNA sequence variants of developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes previously associated with brain structure anomalies were genotyped. The results revealed that variation in DNAAF4, DCDC2, and NRSN1 is associated with brain activity in key language regions: the left inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and intraparietal sulcus. Furthermore, NRSN1 was associated with task performance, but KIAA0319 did not yield any significant associations. Our findings suggest that individuals with a genetic predisposition to developmental dyslexia may partly employ compensatory neural and behavioral mechanisms to maintain typical task performance. Our study highlights the relevance of these developmental dyslexia susceptibility genes in language-related brain function, even in individuals without developmental dyslexia, providing valuable insights into the genetic factors influencing language processing.
  • Discovering heritable modes of MEG spectral power
    (2019-04-01) Leppäaho, Eemeli; Renvall, Hanna; Salmela, Elina; Kere, Juha; Salmelin, Riitta; Kaski, Samuel
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Brain structure and many brain functions are known to be genetically controlled, but direct links between neuroimaging measures and their underlying cellular‐level determinants remain largely undiscovered. Here, we adopt a novel computational method for examining potential similarities in high‐dimensional brain imaging data between siblings. We examine oscillatory brain activity measured with magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 201 healthy siblings and apply Bayesian reduced‐rank regression to extract a low‐dimensional representation of familial features in the participants' spectral power structure. Our results show that the structure of the overall spectral power at 1–90 Hz is a highly conspicuous feature that not only relates siblings to each other but also has very high consistency within participants' own data, irrespective of the exact experimental state of the participant. The analysis is extended by seeking genetic associations for low‐dimensional descriptions of the oscillatory brain activity. The observed variability in the MEG spectral power structure was associated with SDK1 (sidekick cell adhesion molecule 1) and suggestively with several other genes that function, for example, in brain development. The current results highlight the potential of sophisticated computational methods in combining molecular and neuroimaging levels for exploring brain functions, even for high‐dimensional data limited to a few hundred participants.
  • Evidence for genetic regulation of the human parieto-occipital 10-Hz rhythmic activity
    (2016-07-04) Salmela, Elina; Renvall, Hanna; Kujala, Jan; Hakosalo, Osmo; Illman, Mia; Vihla, Minna; Leinonen, Eira; Salmelin, Riitta; Kere, Juha
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Several functional and morphological brain measures are partly under genetic control. The identification of direct links between neuroimaging signals and corresponding genetic factors can reveal cellular-level mechanisms behind the measured macroscopic signals and contribute to the use of imaging signals as probes of genetic function. To uncover possible genetic determinants of the most prominent brain signal oscillation, the parieto-occipital 10-Hz alpha rhythm, we measured spontaneous brain activity with magnetoencephalography in 210 healthy siblings while the subjects were resting, with eyes closed and open. The reactivity of the alpha rhythm was quantified from the difference spectra between the two conditions. We focused on three measures: peak frequency, peak amplitude and the width of the main spectral peak. In accordance with earlier electroencephalography studies, spectral peak amplitude was highly heritable (h2 > 0.75). Variance component-based analysis of 28 000 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers revealed linkage for both the width and the amplitude of the spectral peak. The strongest linkage was detected for the width of the spectral peak over the left parieto-occipital cortex on chromosome 10 (LOD = 2.814, nominal P <0.03). This genomic region contains several functionally plausible genes, including GRID1 and ATAD1 that regulate glutamate receptor channels mediating synaptic transmission, NRG3 with functions in brain development and HRT7 involved in the serotonergic system and circadian rhythm. Our data suggest that the alpha oscillation is in part genetically regulated, and that it may be possible to identify its regulators by genetic analyses on a realistically modest number of samples.
  • GIMAP GTPase Family Genes: Potential Modifiers in Autoimmune Diabetes, Asthma, and Allergy
    (2015) Heinonen, Mirkka T.; Laine, Antti-Pekka; Soderhall, Cilla; Gruzieva, Olena; Rautio, Sini; Melen, Erik; Pershagen, Goran; Lahdesmaki, Harri J.; Knip, Mikael; Ilonen, Jorma; Henttinen, Tiina A.; Kere, Juha; Lahesmaa, Riitta
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
  • Transcriptomic Profiling of JEG-3 cells using human leiomyoma derived matrix
    (2022-08) Barmaki, Samineh; Al-Samadi, Ahmed; Leskinen, Katarzyna; Wahbi, Wafa; Jokinen, Ville; Vuoristo, Sanna; Salo, Tuula; Kere, Juha; Wedenoja, Satu; Saavalainen, Päivi
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Oxygen tension varies during placental and fetal development. Although hypoxia drives early trophoblast invasion, low placental oxygen levels during pregnancy show association with pregnancy complications including fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia. JEG-3 cells are often used as a trophoblast model. We studied transcriptional changes of JEG-3 cells on a uterine leiomyoma derived matrix Myogel. This might be the closest condition to the real uterine environment that we can get for an in vitro model. We observed that culturing JEG-3 cells on the leiomyoma matrix leads to strong stimulation of ribosomal pathways, energy metabolism, and ATP production. Furthermore, Myogel improved JEG-3 cell adherence in comparison to tissue culture treated plastic. We also included PDMS microchip hypoxia creation, and observed changes in oxidative phosphorylation, oxygen related genes and several hypoxia genes. Our study highlights the effects of Myogel matrix on growing JEG-3 cells, especially on mitochondria, energy metabolism, and protein synthesis.