L'influenza del gene FOXP2 sul linguaggio

Scientists have found a gene called FOXP2 that seems to be essential for language production. Thus it is often called language gene. It is probably just one of many genes involved in human communication, but recent discoveries seemed to underline its importance. The transcription factor FOXP2 has been implicated in the evolution of the human brain, language, cognition, vocal-motor integration and neural development in the central nervous system (CNS). The human version of the protein produced by the gene differs from two amino acids from that of a chimpanzee, and seems to have undergone a natural selection. In later years, FOXP2 has been a great factor in the vocalizations of other animals, including mice, songbirds and even bats. The FOXP2 gene was discovered as a result of research on an English family known as the KE family with several members affected by developmental dyspraxia of speech accompanied by severe articulatory disorder. This KE family has been found to carry a mutated allele, but there is another unrelated individual who has been found to have a balanced translocation with a break in FOXP2. As a result, FOXP2 is the first gene involved in a disorder of vocalizations and language. Since its discovery, many studies have been conducted by intrigued scientists in an attempt to explain the mechanism by which it influences these characteristic human traits and to identify the genes regulated by FOXP2. The researchers suggest that FOXP2 could regulate both the neural development of language and the anatomical structures necessary for phonoarticulation. The following pages will explain the characteristics of the gene responsible for the production of language, through the evolutionary differences in sequences of the genome and proteins that are specific to humans, its importance for the nervous system, in particular, the brain and through mutations that translate into linguistic disorders isolated after genetic mutation. In the following pages, the characteristics of the gene responsible for the production of language will be explained, through the evolutionary differences in sequences of the genome and proteins that are specific to humans, its importance for the nervous system, more specifically, the brain and through genetic mutations that translate into linguistic disorders.