The effect of music performance on the transcriptome of professional musicians

Abstract

Music performance by professional musicians involves a wide-spectrum of cognitive and multi-sensory motor skills, whose biological basis is unknown. Several neuroscientific studies have demonstrated that the brains of professional musicians and non-musicians differ structurally and functionally and that musical training enhances cognition. However, the molecules and molecular mechanisms involved in music performance remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the effect of music performance on the genome-wide peripheral blood transcriptome of professional musicians by analyzing the transcriptional responses after a 2-hr concert performance and after a ‘music-free' control session. The up-regulated genes were found to affect dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor behavior, neuronal plasticity, and neurocognitive functions including learning and memory. Particularly, candidate genes such as SNCA, FOS and DUSP1 that are involved in song perception and production in songbirds, were identified, suggesting an evolutionary conservation in biological processes related to sound perception/production. Additionally, modulation of genes related to calcium ion homeostasis, iron ion homeostasis, glutathione metabolism, and several neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases implied that music performance may affect the biological pathways that are otherwise essential for the proper maintenance of neuronal function and survival. For the first time, this study provides evidence for the candidate genes and molecular mechanisms underlying music performance.

Convergent evidence for the molecular basis of musical traits

“…Interestingly, mammals, including modern humans, have been shown to share similar inner ear structures even with insects23. A shared background of sound perception and production between evolutionarily as distant species as humans and songbirds has been found in our previous studies, where several homologous genes known to affect song learning and singing in songbirds were up-regulated after music perception and performance in humans1112. All these evidence suggest a high evolutionary conservation, or convergent evolution, of molecular mechanisms related to sound perception and production.…”

“…). Interestingly, FOS and DUSP1 genes have an increased transcriptional activity in professional musicians after they played musical instruments11. Other candidate genes like FOXP2 and GRIN2B have been shown to be critical for vocal communication in songbirds and speech in humans35363738.…”

“…For example, conventional genetic approaches such as genome-wide linkage scans, association studies3678 and CNV studies910 have shown that musical aptitude is linked to regions that contain genes affecting development and function of auditory pathway and neurocognitive processes. Studies of genome-wide RNA expression profiles have revealed that listening and performing music enhanced the activity of genes related to dopamine secretion and transport, neuronal plasticity, learning and memory1112. Recently, positive selection regions associated with musical aptitude have been shown to contain genes that affect hearing, language development, birdsong and reward mechanism13.…”

Hypothesizing Music Intervention Enhances Brain Functional Connectivity Involving Dopaminergic Recruitment: Common Neuro-correlates to Abusable Drugs

“…While there may be many genes involved in a musical performance, it is interesting that Kanduri et al [50] showed that following a 2-h concert performed by professional musicians, their upregulated genes affected dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor actions, neuronal plasticity, and neurocognitive activities such as learning and memory. Specifically, candidate genes including SNCA, FOS, and DUSP1 were identified, which are known to be involved in song perception and production in songbirds.…”

Comparative Transcriptomic Analyses by RNA-seq to Elucidate Differentially Expressed Genes in the Muscle of Korean Thoroughbred Horses

“…The cluster networks of GO-categorized differentially expressed genes were annotated by the database resource Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) software (v.9.1) (www. string-db.org/) [14]. All associations in STRING are provided with a probabilistic confidence score, representing a functional linkage between two proteins.…”