CELL: BRICseq: Characterization of whole-brain connectivity, activity, and gene expression

Comprehensive analysis of neuronal networks requires measuring the connectivity, activity, and gene expression of the whole brainAlthough there are high-throughput methods to map whole-brain activities and transcription groups, mapping region-to-region connectivity in a similar way is still slow and expensive because they require averages in hundreds of brainshere, the researchers describe a method called BRICseq,which uses DNA barcodes and sequencing to map the connectivity of individualindividuals at low cost in a matter of weeksapplied BRICseeq to the neocortex of mice, and the researchers found that region-to-region connectivity could provide a simple bridge to link transcription groups to activities: spatial expression patterns for a few genes predict regional-to-region connectivity, while connectivity can predict the correlation of activitythe researchers also used BRICseq to map the brains of BTBR mice, a mutant that lacks a carcass, and re-stated its known connectivity lesionsBRICseq allows laboratories to compare age, gender, environment, genetics, and species how to affect neuronal connections and integrate these with functional activity and gene expression