Arnatkeviciute, AurinaFulcher, Ben D.Oldham, StuartTiego, JegganPaquola, CaseyGerring, ZacharyAquino, KevinHawi, ZiarihJohnson, BethBall, GarethKlein, MariekeDeco, GustavoFranke, BarbaraBellgrove, Mark A.Fornito, Alex2022-07-012022-07-012021Arnatkeviciute A, Fulcher BD, Oldham S, Tiego J, Paquola C, Gerring Z, Aquino K, Hawi Z, Johnson B, Ball G, Klein M, Deco G, Franke B, Bellgrove MA, Fornito A. Genetic influences on hub connectivity of the human connectome. Nat Commun. 2021;12:4237. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24306-22041-1723http://hdl.handle.net/10230/53649Brain network hubs are both highly connected and highly inter-connected, forming a critical communication backbone for coherent neural dynamics. The mechanisms driving this organization are poorly understood. Using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in twins, we identify a major role for genes, showing that they preferentially influence connectivity strength between network hubs of the human connectome. Using transcriptomic atlas data, we show that connected hubs demonstrate tight coupling of transcriptional activity related to metabolic and cytoarchitectonic similarity. Finally, comparing over thirteen generative models of network growth, we show that purely stochastic processes cannot explain the precise wiring patterns of hubs, and that model performance can be improved by incorporating genetic constraints. Our findings indicate that genes play a strong and preferential role in shaping the functionally valuable, metabolically costly connections between connectome hubs.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2021 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24306-2Computational neuroscienceGenetics of the nervous systemNeural circuitsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess