GENES. News around FOXP2 and human language are back. This time, an interdisciplinary team published a new article about gene transcriptional regulation of the central nervous system by FOXP2. The researchers inserted both versions (alleles) of FOXP2 in human brain cells and looked for transcriptional levels (gene expression) of the genes that FOXp2 regulates. They found that the human version increased the expression of 61 genes and decreased the expression of 51 genes compared with the chimp version of the protein. Moreover, to double-check that the same was happening in real brains, they looked at the expression of these genes in human and chimp brain tissue and found similar expression levels as in the cells.
I like the article, but we must be careful when extrapolating these experimental (in vitro) results, because the development of the human (and chimpanzee) brain is really complex, including a complex concert of different interactions (gene-gene; gene-environment; cell-cell....) that can change the final outcome.
Finally, NatureNews published a comment by Simon Fisher, member of the team that in 2001 reported the link between FOXP2 and language, he pointed out that it seems that language did not evolve from scratch but depended on the retuning of genetic pathways present in non-verbal ancestors, rather than the appearance of completely novel mechanisms. I found this interpretation really interesting and leading (in my understanding) to an important evolutionary concept: exaptation!!
Now the authors wants more, and they will investigate these 61 genes looking for their specific site of expression and their functional role in brain cells; that's great, so let's wait for more news in a near future....
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