- The new study connects a particular gene and a variant of protein found only in people with a spoken language.
- Researchers used Crispr gene editing to replace the Nova1 protein, which is located in mice with a type exclusively found in humans, and that changed the way the animals voted when they called each other.
- The author of the study, Dr. Robert Darnell, hopes that recent work could lead to new ways of treating speech related problems.
Why did people start talking? Scientists suggest that genetics played a big role – and they say that the evolution of this unique ability was key to our survival.
A new study connects a particular gene In the ancient origin of the spoken language, suggesting that the protein variant was found only in people may have helped communicate in a new way. The speech allowed us to share information, coordinate the activities and convey our knowledge, giving us the advantage of extinct relatives such as Neanderthals and Denisian.
The new study is “A good first step to start watching specific genes” that can affect speech and language development, said Liza Finestack of the University of Minnesota, which was not involved in the research.
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What scientists learn may even one day even help people with speech problems.
Were watched by researchers of genetic variants one of the different genes “that contributed to the occurrence Homo sapiens as a dominant speciesWhat are we today, “said Dr. Robert Darnell, author of a study published on Tuesday in Nature Communications.
The roles of the skull are seen in the exhibition of early human species within the Smithsonian Hall of Human Porils 20. July 2023 at the Smithsonian Natural Museum. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)
Darnell studied protein – called Nova1 and is known to be crucial for brain development – from the early 1990s. For the latest research, scientists in his lab at the Rockefeller New York University used Crispr gene editing to replace the new1 protein found in mice with exclusively human type to test the effects of genetic variants in real life. To their surprise, it changed the way the animals voted when they called each other.
Children’s mice with a human variant made their way different from normal litters when their mom happened. Adult men’s mice with a variant chirped differently from their normal colleagues when they saw a female in the heat.
Both are settings in which mice are motivated to speak, Darnell said, “and they talked differently” with the human variant, illustrating his role in speech.
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This is not the first time the gene has been associated with speech. In 2001, British scientists said they had discovered the first gene related to language and speech disorder.
Called Foxp2, it is called the human language gene. But although the FOXP2 is involved in the human language, it has been shown that the variant in modern people is not unique to us. Later research revealed that it was divided by Neanderthals. On the other hand, a variant of Nova1 in modern people is exclusively in our species, Darnell said.
The presence of gene variants is not the only reason why people can speak. The ability also depends on things like anatomical features in the human throat and the areas of the brain that work together to allow people to speak and understand the language.
Darnell hopes that recent work not only helps people understand their origin better, but eventually leads to new ways of treating speech -related problems.
The Finestack University in Minnesota said it was more likely that genetic findings could one day allow scientists to discover, very early in life, which may need speech and linguistic interventions.
“That’s certainly a possibility,” she said.
