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ePoster
WIDESPREAD TRANSCRIPTOMIC HETEROGENEITY REFLECTS FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIZATION IN BRAIN CELLS
Shuyi Yangand 2 co-authors
Maastricht University
FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS01-07AM-164
Presentation
Date TBA
Board: PS01-07AM-164
Event Information
Poster Board
PS01-07AM-164
Poster
View posterAbstract
Gene expression heterogeneity is a fundamental property of biological systems and is particularly pronounced in the brain, where cells exhibit diverse and highly specialized functional roles. However, how this specialization manifests at the transcriptomic level, especially with respect to genes supporting essential cellular functions, remains insufficiently characterized across brain cell types.
Here, we systematically quantify gene expression heterogeneity across multiple RNA-seq datasets, focusing on glial cells and neurons from brain tissue in comparison with non-brain cell types. Using the Gini index as a quantitative measure, we assessed expression patterns at the genome-wide level as well as within gene sets associated with core cellular functions. We find that brain glial cells exhibit markedly higher expression heterogeneity than non-brain cells, indicating a strong degree of transcriptomic specialization. Importantly, this elevated heterogeneity persists even when analysis is restricted to commonly used housekeeping gene lists, suggesting that specialization in the brain extends to genes underlying essential cellular processes. Also, this effect is robust to the inclusion or exclusion of specific cell types and is observed across multiple brain cell populations, indicating that it is not driven by a single cell type.Together, these findings highlight a distinct organizational principle of gene expression in the brain and underscore the importance of considering cell-type–specific expression architecture when interpreting transcriptomic data in neuroscience.
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