http://www.msnbc.com/news/637430.asp

First language gene identified

Researchers find mutation linked to speech disorder

MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

Oct. 3 — British scientists say they’ve discovered the first gene tied to a language and speech disorder, raising hopes that the genetics revolution is closer to identifying the biological roots of conscious thought and, perhaps, refining what it means to be human.

‘It is extraordinary to think that we have now got an entry point into the understanding of one of the most important features that distinguish us from other animals.’
— ANTHONY MONACO
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford        CALLED FOXP2, the gene produces a protein that turns other genes on and off. Scientists believe it could hold the key to why people suffer from speech problems.
       It is not specifically a gene that enables us to talk. Instead, researchers say they discovered a mutated form of the gene, which is responsible for a protein that enables the brain’s language circuitry to function.
       “We have identified a way of getting at the pathways and neural networks involved in speech and language from a genetics point of view,” said study co-author Simon Fisher, a geneticist at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford.
       Because FOXP2 works with other genes and proteins, Fisher and his colleagues believe its identification could help unlock the molecular mysteries of speech.
       “It is extraordinary to think that we have now got an entry point into the understanding of one of the most important features that distinguish us from other animals,” said Anthony Monaco, also of Wellcome Trust Centre.
       
FINDING JUST THE BEGINNING
       But even the researchers who located the gene say their discovery is just the beginning and caution it would be wrong to heap too many expectations onto the damaged version of a single gene. Fisher, Monaco and Faraneh Vargha-Khadem of the Institute of Child Health in London led a team of scientists that pinpointed the gene by studying three generations of a large family in England with a history of speech problems, identified only as the KEs.
       About half of its 24 members are affected with a speech disorder that impairs movement of the mouth, lips and tongue and also creates problems with phonemes and grammar, such as using proper word tense.
       Using information from the Human Genome Project, the scientists found differences in the sequence of DNA letters in FOXP2, located on chromosome 7, in some members of the family. The research is reported in the latest edition of the science journal Nature.  Researchers believe the mutation on FOXP2 is causing a breakdown in the gene’s ability to regulate other genes, resulting in the disorder.
       “This gene controls other genes, and we need to find out which ones it’s controlling,” Monaco said. “We can then think about better therapies and diagnostic issues.”
       Once the mutation was identified, it was consistent in the KE family, lending weight to the researchers’ conclusions, said Steven Pinker, of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of an accompanying commentary on the research.
       “When identifying a gene with a behavioral disorder it’s unusual to find a contingency so perfect,” Pinker said. “Everyone with the mutated version of the gene has the disorder and those without the mutated gene do not.”
       
Genome of plague germ decoded

       
GENETIC BASIS FOR LANGUAGE?
       Other researchers said it’s also premature to link this study to the debate over whether a gene or genes are solely responsible for language in humans.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001

Answers

And over in S.F. at the Exploratorium, Crick and Co. have been working like little beavers to ID all the receptors that help answer the question "How do we really see". Toss out the old "pad" theories. As of 2 years ago, 38 different areas of the Brain had been identified as specific for assorted Visual Functions.

For those who can't grasp how important that work is do try to remember that "perception is reality" instead of what you see is what you get. IOW, many of one's views and ideas concerning the "real world" are highly dependent upon Visual ability which may or may not be linked to other processes in the "thought patterns" of humans.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001

Good. Maybe there is hope for Dumbya after all.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=006ZTT

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001

We now know why people have speech impidlements.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001

For anyone intrested in why we are what we are it's an exciting time to be alive. Observational science is fine but now we're scratching off the shell revealing the meat of life's nut. Wow!

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Just as long as their not scratching the meat of my nuts.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001

Carlos:

Weren't we all discussing, not too long ago, about how they located some place in the brain where they could apply a bit of juice and stimulate a genuine religious epiphany or some such?

The old science fiction stories about education by taking pills instead of courses seem more predictive all the time. But some of these threads illustrate the other side of that coin all too chillingly. The distinction between education and programming gets clearer all the time, and which do you suppose the pills would be designed to do?

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2001