Image via Wikipedia The evolution of language sometimes seems like a sort of jewel in the evolutionary crown of homo sapiens. Evidence of positive selection in the verbal dyspraxia FOXP2 gene, is often discussed with amazement and a reverential tone befitting this special evolutionary achievement. Enter the humble zebra finch – who’s songs and language articulation could teach Sinatra a thing or two. Haesler and colleagues use short-hairpin RNAs to interfere with the zebra finch homolog of FOXP2 in a brain area known as ‘area x’ (functionally equivalent to the human striatum) where the gene is upregulated during the late summer when males must belt out their best version of Strangers in the Night to woo the females. In their paper, “Incomplete and Inaccurate Vocal Imitation after Knockdown of FoxP2 in Songbird Basal Ganglia Nucleus Area X“, (DOI) the research team finds that young zebra finches with lower expression of FOXP2 have difficulty learning new songs and are less able to articulate specific sounds and lyrical blurbs. These difficulties are much like the difficulties experienced by human children who carry mutations in FOXP2.
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