Transcriptional Signatures of the Hierarchical Chronnectome Organization in the Human Brain

The chronnectome of the human brain represents the dynamics of functional organization in interacting regions, but its organizational principle and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Using task-free fMRI and postmortem gene expression data, we conduct a transcriptome-chronnectome association study to investigate the spatial configurations of dynamic brain networks and their associations with transcriptional signatures. We reveal a spatial layout of network dynamics in the human brain chronnectome that reflects the cortical hierarchy and myelin content spanning from primary to transmodal areas. We further identify the transcriptional signature of this layout, with the top-related genes enriched for the ion channel and mitochondria terms. Moreover, the expression of these genes significantly predicts brain dynamics-behavior coupling. These findings highlight the hierarchical organizing principle and underlying molecular basis of the spatial configurations of dynamic brain networks, thereby contributing to our understanding of the associations among gene expression, network dynamics, and behaviors.