The enigma of speech and language acquisition in human - A genetic approach
Article Main
Abstract
The use of language is one of the most vital traits that distinguish human from other species. The gene FOXP2 (fork head box P2) is relevant to the human ability to develop language. FOXP2 is situated on human chromosome 7q31, and its major splice form encodes a protein of 715 amino acids. It contains a glutamine rich region consisting of two adjacent polyglutamine tracts, encoded by mixtures of CAG and CAA repeats. Two functional copy of FOXP2 seem to be required for acquisition of normal language in human. The chimpanzee, gorilla and the rhesus macaque FOXP2 proteins are all identical to each other and carry only one difference from the mouse and two differences from the human protein, whereas the orangutan two differences from the mouse and three from humans. This gene is also important on particular aspects of cognition awareness or grammatical processing.
Article Details
Article Details
Keywords
Language evolution, Human language, Primate language, FOXP2 gene, Language disorder
References
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Bruce, H. A. and Margolis, R. L. (2002). FOXP2: novel exons, splice variants and CAG repeat length stability. Hum. Genet., 111: 136 - 144.
Carlsson, P. and Mahlapuu, M. (2002). Forkhead transcription factors: key players in development and metabolism. Dev. Bio., 250: 1- 23.
Consort, S. L. I. (2002). A genomewide scan identifies two novel loci involved in specific language impairment Am. J. Hum. Genet., 70: 384 – 398.
Corballis, M. C. (2004). FOXP2 and the mirror system. Trends in cognitive sciences, 8: 95-96.
Enard, W., Przeworski, M., Fisher, S.E., Lai, C. S. L., Wiebe, V., Kitano, T., Monaco, A. P. and Paabo, S. (2002). Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involve in speech and language. Nature, 418: 869 – 872.
Grigorenko, F. B., Wood, M. S., Meyer, L. A., Hart, W. C. and Shuster, A. (1997). Susceptibility loci for distinct components of developmental dyslexia on chromosomes 6 and 15. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 60: 27 – 39.
Hauser, M. D., Chomsky, N. and Fitch, W. T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolved? Science, 298: 1569 – 1579.
Lai, C. S, Fisher, S.E., Hurst, J.A., Vargna-khadem, F., Monaco, A.P. (2001). A forkhead – domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder. Nature, 413: 519 – 523.
Lai, C. S. L. Fisher, S.E., Hurst, J.A., Levy, E.R., Hodgson, S., Fox, M., Jeremiah, S., Jamison, D.C., Gran, E.D., Vargnakhadem, F., Monaco, A.P. (2000). The SPCH1 region on human 7q31: genomic characterization of the critical interval and localization of translocations associated with speech and language disorder. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 67: 357 – 368.
Lai, C. S. L., Gerrelli, D., Monaco, A. P., Fisher, S. E. and Copp, A. J. (2003). FOXP2 expression during brain development coincides with sites of pathology in a severe speech and language disorder. Brain., 126: 2455 – 2462.
Lehmann, O. J. (2000). Chromosomal duplication involving the forkhead transcription factor gene FOXC1 causes Irish hypoplasia and glaucoma. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 67: 1129 –1135.
Lieberman, P. (2002). On the nature and evolution of the neural bases of human language. Year book of Physical Anthropology, 45: 36 – 62.
MacDermot, K.D., Bonora, E., Skyes, N., Coupe, A. and Fisher, E.S. (2005). Identification of FOXP2 truncation as a novel cause of developmental speech and language deficits. Am. J. Hum. Genet., 76: 1074 - 1080.
Marcus, G. F. and Fisher, S. E. (2003). FOXP2 in focus: what can genes tell us about speech and language? Trends in Cognitive Sciences., 7: 257 – 262.
Marcus, G. F., Vouloumanos, A. and Sag, I. A. (2003). Does Broca’s play by the rules? Nature Neuroscience, 6: 651 – 652.
Saleem, R. A., Banerjee- Basu, S., Berry, F. B., Baxevanis, A. D. and Walter, M. A. (2003). Structural and functional analysis of disease causing missense mutation in the forkhead domain of FOXC1. Journal of Human Molecular Genetics, 12: 2993- 3005.
Sanjuan, J., Tolosa, A., Gonzalez, J. C., Aguilar, E. J., Perez- Tur, J., Najera, C., Molto, M. D. and DeFrutos, R. (2006). Association between FOXP2 polymorphisms and schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations. Psychiatric Genetics, 16: 67 – 72.
Shu, W., Yang, H., Zhang, L., Lu, M. M. and Morrisey, E. E. (2001). Characterization of New subfamily of winged – helix / Forkhead (FOX) genes that are expressed in the lung and act as transcriptional repressors. J. Biol. Chem., 276: 27488 - 27497.
Smith, D. S. (2007). Genes, language development, and language disorder. Journal of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. 13: 96 – 105.
Tager- Flusberg, H., Joseph, R. and Folstein, S. (2001). Current directions in research on autism. Ment. Retard. Dev. Disabil. Res. Rev., 7: 21 – 29.
Takahashi, K., Liu, F. C., Hirokawa, K. and Takahashi, H. (2003). Expression of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language in the developing and adult striatum. J. Neurosci. Res., 73: 61–72.
Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Pietila, J. and Goedken, R. J. (2002). Evaluation of FOXP2 as an autism susceptibility gene. Am. J. Med. Genet., 114: 566 - 569.
Zhang, J., Webb, D. M. and Podlaha, O. (2002). Accelerated protein evolution and origins of human specific features: FOXP2 as an example. Genetics, 162: 1825 -1835.
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The enigma of speech and language acquisition in human - A genetic approach. (2009). Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 1(2), 258-263. https://doi.org/10.31018/jans.v1i2.67
