Genetic Mechanisms of Cognitive Development
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EWS AND THEORETICAL ARTICLES
Genetic Mechanisms of Cognitive Development R. N. Mustafina, *, A. V. Kazantsevab, S. B. Malykhc, and E. K. Khusnutdinovab, c aBashkir
State Medical University, Ufa, 450008 Russia Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Ufa Federal Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, 450054 Russia c Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia *e-mail: [email protected]
b
Received August 6, 2019; revised October 5, 2019; accepted October 16, 2019
Abstract—The results of large-scale meta-analyses of GWAS and genetic association studies demonstrated the role of allelic variants of a large number of genes in the development of cognitive abilities. Many of the identified genes are expressed in the brain and are involved in the pathogenesis of nervous system diseases. It has been shown that the summarized genetic effect for various cognitive abilities is no more than 50%. For certain genes, such as BDNF, DRD2, FNBP1L, PDE1C, PDE4B, and PDE4D, related to the regulation of neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, associations with specific cognitive abilities were revealed. We assume the prospect of using the obtained results for the targeted effect in order to improve human cognitive abilities. This review describes DNA methylation, histone acetylation, expression of specific noncoding RNAs during brain functioning, and the development of individual differences in cognitive abilities. The revealed epigenetic mechanisms suggest the methods of reversible correction of cognitive functioning both in nonclinical forms and pathological states. Keywords: genetic associations, genetic predisposition, brain, cognitive abilities, g factor DOI: 10.1134/S102279542007011X
INTRODUCTION Human cognitive characteristics include praxis (acquisition and use of motor skills), attention, speech, gnosis (information perception), memory, and intelligence [1]. The general intelligence factor (“g” factor) is one of the best predictors of important life indicators, including educational attainment, professional activity, mental and physical health, morbidity [2], and life expectancy [3]. The g factor is a key construct in differential psychology, behavioral genetics, and cognitive neuroscience [2]. Twin, family, and adoption studies demonstrated that the g factor was highly inherited and genetically stable throughout life [3, 4]. The impact of inherited factors in intelligence development increases from 20% in infancy to 80% in late adulthood. At the same time, other cognitive abilities differ significantly within early postnatal human development. Their level increases significantly from birth to puberty, while it decreases in adulthood [5]. The coefficient of phenotypic correlation between various cognitive abilities is known to be on average 0.30, while the coefficient of genetic correlation is about 0.60 [2]. Different cognitive abilities are characterized by a specific distribution of the impact of the genetic and environmental factors. For example, an estimate of phenotypic covariance demonstrated that the heritab
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