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August 2002
Genetics: Oral prehistory
Language, a uniquely human trait, relies on capabilities such as fine control of the larynx and mouth. Last year a gene definitively linked to human language was identified. Members of a family with mutations in the FOXP2 gene have severe language and grammar difficulties. Now Enard et al. have examined the equivalent genes in the chimpanzee, gorilla, orang-utan, rhesus macaque and mouse and compared them with the human version. Human FOXP2 contains two key sequence changes compared with the other animals, and is under selection for the human-specific changes. The sequence changes may affect a person's ability to control facial movements and thus to develop proficient spoken language. The gene variant that permits language may have become widespread in the population during the past 200,000 years of human history — about the time that anatomically modern humans emerged — suggesting that language may have been a driving force in their expansion.
Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved
in speech and language
WOLFGANG ENARD, MOLLY PRZEWORSKI,
SIMON E. FISHER, CECILIA S. L. LAI, VICTOR WIEBE, TAKASHI KITANO, ANTHONY P. MONACO
& SVANTE P��BO
Nature 418, 869–872 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01025
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