DUBBED "the language gene", Foxp2 has been seen as key to the evolution of speech and language since its discovery in 2001. Now transgenic mice have been produced that make the human version of the gene, with dramatic results: their calls sound different from those of normal mice, and certain learning pathways in the brain appear to be enhanced.
The work offers tantalising clues to the gene's importance - but it also highlights the difficulty of using animal models to probe a uniquely human trait.
Foxp2 rose to fame when it was found to be mutated in a British family (known as KE) with a history of severe language disorders. Wolfgang Enard of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues homed in on its genetic sequence and discovered that the human version has two key changes found in no other species (Nature, vol 418, ...
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