FoxP2 may define Humanity, 500,000 year old gene
FoxP2, a “transcription factor, has a mutation that occurred more than half a million years ago in our African Ancestors, and could be the key to the most distinctive feature or our race: language.
Foxp2 was first identified in a group of family members in England who had severe difficulties in speaking and understanding speech. These people were found to carry a mutated version of Foxp2. Foxp2, as a transcription factor, turns on genes involved in the regulation of connections between neurons.
Now scientists at MIT have placed the mutation in mice. Mice were tested in a maze. The mice with a humanized Foxp2 performed superiorly when required develop habitual routines