An interesting genetic advance that has arisen relatively recently is the discovery and understanding of the Forkhead Box P2 gene. This gene, also known as FOXP2, is partly responsible for the comprehension and development of language skills. Mutations of this gene within humans’ results in malfunction of speech and verbal communication.FOXP2 was found during the testing of the ‘KE’ family. This is a family that had three generations of a speech disorder. Scanning revealed that there was a break on each of the chromosome 7’s, which was found in 2001 to be due to mutation of the FOXP2 gene. A single ‘G’ nucleotide was recognised as ‘A’, mutating the amino acid from Arginine to Histidine. This is one of the primary causes of speech incompetence.
The effects of this condition include a hard time comprehending information, improper brain development (within the cortical and ganglia areas) and difficulty in speaking intelligently. In evolutionary terms, it has been suggested by researchers that configuration of this gene in humans compared to chimps has enabled enhanced speech due to the two amino acid differe
nce between them. The Forkhead Box P2 gene is extremely important to ones development of language and more research should be undertaken concerning it’s effects of mutation and how these can be solved.
Source of Article: http://www.evolutionpages.com/FOXP2_language.htm
Other Information: http://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=FOXP2
http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/~simon/SPCH1/SPCH1_project5.shtml
