CORTECON: A Temporal Transcriptome Analysis of In Vitro Human Cerebral Cortex Development From Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Many neurological and psychiatric disorders affect the cerebral cortex, and a clearer understanding of the molecular processes underlying human corticogenesis will provide greater insight into such pathologies. To date, knowledge of gene expression changes accompanying corticogenesis is largely based on murine data. Here we present a searchable, comprehensive, temporal gene expression dataset encompassing cerebral cortical development from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Using a modified differentiation protocol and RNA-Seq technology with computational analysis, we identified sets of genes and long non-coding RNAs that significantly change during corticogenesis, and those enriched for disease-associations. Numerous alternatively-spliced genes with varying temporal patterns of expression are revealed, including TGIF1, involved in holoprosencephaly and MARK1, involved in autism. We have created a database (http://cortecon.neuralsci.org) that provides online, query-based access to changes in RNA expression and alternatively spliced transcripts during human cortical development. Overall design: Nine timepoints (days 0,7,12,19,26,33,49,63,77) covering human corticogenesis from embyronic stem cells.