AUTHOR=Tadayon Sayed H. , Vaziri-Pashkam Maryam , Kahali Pegah , Ansari Dezfouli Mitra , Abbassian Abdolhossein 

TITLE=Common Genetic Variant in VIT Is Associated with Human Brain Asymmetry

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00236

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2016.00236

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<p>Brain asymmetry varies across individuals. However, genetic factors contributing to this normal variation are largely unknown. Here we studied variation of cortical surface area asymmetry in a large sample of subjects. We performed principal component analysis (PCA) to capture correlated asymmetry variation across cortical regions. We found that caudal and rostral anterior cingulate together account for a substantial part of asymmetry variation among individuals. To find SNPs associated with this subset of brain asymmetry variation we performed a genome-wide association study followed by replication in an independent cohort. We identified one SNP (rs11691187) that had genome-wide significant association (<italic>P</italic><sub><italic>Combined</italic></sub> = 2.40e-08). The rs11691187 is in the first intron of <italic>VIT</italic>. In a follow-up analysis, we found that <italic>VIT</italic> gene expression is associated with brain asymmetry in six donors of the Allen Human Brain Atlas. Based on these findings we suggest that <italic>VIT</italic> contributes to normal brain asymmetry variation. Our results can shed light on disorders associated with altered brain asymmetry.</p>