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Biology news: Hot off the press
The talking mouse or the evolution of language
Noam Chomsky, the renown linguistic, wrote: ‘‘When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the ‘human essence’, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man’’ (Ref1). Well Mr Chomsky, we are getting to the essence of mice, as a recent report (Ref5) suggest by the Pääbo’s group at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.
In 2001, a family with language impairment (verbal dysprexia) was published to have a mutation in a gene called FoxP2 (Ref2). We can artificially make these mutations, so scientists created song birds and mice with the abnormal gene. Song birds imitate their tutor and learn new tunes, and this learning process activates a region in their brain called area X. The authors reported that “Birds with experimentally lowered levels of FoxP2 imitated their tutor’s song imprecisely and sang more variably than controls” (Ref3). In mice the pups that lack FoxP2 behave differently, and they eek (Ref4) differently then their normal littermates. FoxP2 really help the mouse make the right noises!
In 2009, a seminal paper was published in cell (Ref5) showing that mice can be made to “speak”. They used the human version of FoxP2 as a template to change the mouse FoxP2 and put it in the genome of mice. The human version differed from the mouse in only two single places, so it is easy to mutate. The vocalization patterns of these mice pups changes so they eek more. Also, the cortico-basal ganglia circuits in the brain also change showing pattern similar to humans when talking. The cortico-basal ganglia are mainly affected with ageing in humans and its dysfunction is associated with loss of speech.
Glossary
Mutations are simple changes in the DNA. DNA is made up of four different basic components A,T,C and G. So a change from any of the four bases to another is called a mutation.
References
1-Chomsky, N. (1968). Language and Mind, First Edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World).
2- Lai, C.S.L., Fisher, S.E., Hurst, J.A., Vargha-Khadem, F., and Monaco, A.P. (2001). Nature 413, 519–523.
3- Haesler et al (2007) PLoS Biol 5(12): e321
4- Noises of things including animals are called onomatopoeia. See http://www.soundsafaritheater.com/onomatopoeia.html
5- Enard et al (2009) Cell 137(5) pp. 961 – 971
Comment is open access
For comments visit the "debate on evolution and islam" in the forum under the "IBScientific magazine" section.
Noam Chomsky, the renown linguistic, wrote: ‘‘When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the ‘human essence’, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know, unique to man’’ (Ref1). Well Mr Chomsky, we are getting to the essence of mice, as a recent report (Ref5) suggest by the Pääbo’s group at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.
In 2001, a family with language impairment (verbal dysprexia) was published to have a mutation in a gene called FoxP2 (Ref2). We can artificially make these mutations, so scientists created song birds and mice with the abnormal gene. Song birds imitate their tutor and learn new tunes, and this learning process activates a region in their brain called area X. The authors reported that “Birds with experimentally lowered levels of FoxP2 imitated their tutor’s song imprecisely and sang more variably than controls” (Ref3). In mice the pups that lack FoxP2 behave differently, and they eek (Ref4) differently then their normal littermates. FoxP2 really help the mouse make the right noises!
In 2009, a seminal paper was published in cell (Ref5) showing that mice can be made to “speak”. They used the human version of FoxP2 as a template to change the mouse FoxP2 and put it in the genome of mice. The human version differed from the mouse in only two single places, so it is easy to mutate. The vocalization patterns of these mice pups changes so they eek more. Also, the cortico-basal ganglia circuits in the brain also change showing pattern similar to humans when talking. The cortico-basal ganglia are mainly affected with ageing in humans and its dysfunction is associated with loss of speech.
Glossary
Mutations are simple changes in the DNA. DNA is made up of four different basic components A,T,C and G. So a change from any of the four bases to another is called a mutation.
References
1-Chomsky, N. (1968). Language and Mind, First Edition (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World).
2- Lai, C.S.L., Fisher, S.E., Hurst, J.A., Vargha-Khadem, F., and Monaco, A.P. (2001). Nature 413, 519–523.
3- Haesler et al (2007) PLoS Biol 5(12): e321
4- Noises of things including animals are called onomatopoeia. See http://www.soundsafaritheater.com/onomatopoeia.html
5- Enard et al (2009) Cell 137(5) pp. 961 – 971
Comment is open access
For comments visit the "debate on evolution and islam" in the forum under the "IBScientific magazine" section.
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