Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Evolution

Talking about FOXP2

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 11, page 5 (2010)Cite this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

A specific role for FOXP2 in the evolution of speech was suggested by the appearance of two amino acid substitutions in the protein after the separation of the human and chimpanzee lineages, coinciding with the period during which speech is thought to have first appeared. However, until now the consequences of these amino acid changes for the protein's activity were unknown.

To compare the properties of human and ancestral (chimpanzee) FOXP2 the authors expressed each form of the protein in human neuronal cell lines that lacked endogenous FOXP2 and carried out whole-genome microarray analysis and quantitative PCR following reverse transcription (qRT-PCR) to examine gene expression. 116 genes were up- or downregulated to a greater extent by human FOXP2 than by chimpanzee FOXP2. Furthermore, many of these genes were differentially expressed in tissues taken from the caudate nucleus, frontal pole and hippocampus of human and chimpanzee brains.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Konopka, G. et al. Human-specific transcriptional regulation of CNS development genes by FOXP2. Nature 462, 213–217 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

FURTHER READING

  1. Enard, W. et al. A humanized version of Foxp2 affects cortico-basal ganglia circuits in mice. Cell 137, 961–971 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Katherine Whalley
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Whalley, K. Talking about FOXP2. Nat Rev Neurosci 11, 5 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2775

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2775

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing