Human FOXP2 Differences versus the Other Primates
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http://www.genetics.org/content/vol162/issue4/images/large/GEN8581.f3.jpeg
1) One Human Modification is shared with the Carnivore S325
2) The second one is unique in the living world N303
http://www.genetics.org/content/vol162/issue4/images/large/GEN8581.f2.jpeg
http://www.genetics.org/content/vol162/issue4/images/large/GEN8581.f2.jpeg
"Amino acid sequence alignment of FOXP2 genes from human, great apes, and mouse. Dots represent identical residues to the human sequence, while dashes represent gaps. The two amino acid substitutions in humans (in boldface type) are both in exon 7. The FOX domain is boxed and the broadly defined transcription repression domain is underlined with the zinc-finger domain italicized. The alignment of the poly(Q) region is tentative."
Human FOXP2 versus ZebraFinch FOXP2
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Alignment of deduced amino acid sequences :
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/vol24/issue13/images/large/zns0130488350002.jpeg
The selected region includes the positions at which two residues in the human sequence (boxes; N303 and S325) differ from other primates (Enard et al., 2002)
In the zebra finch, a conservative substitution of valine for isoleucine at position 350 (arrow; I350V) occurs within this domain. Four additional zebra finch substitutions (S42T, S78G, S229N, and A243S; data not shown)
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Uncovering neural pathways
FOXP2 cannot be called `the gene for speech' or `the gene
for language'. It is just one element of a complex pathway
involving multiple genes, and it is too early to tell whether
its role within that pathway is special. Furthermore,
FOXP2 appears to be normal in common forms of
developmental language disorder, and these seldom
involve the kinds of oromotor deficits observed in the KE
family [35]. Nonetheless, the gene can provide a valuable
entry-point into the relevant neural pathway (or pathways),
by pointing to the downstream targets which it
regulates or the proteins with which it interacts. Speech
and language are likely to be products of mechanisms that
are shared with other neural domains and those that are
not. They are also likely to represent a mixture of genetic
mechanisms, including those that are found to vary among
normal individuals and those that are not. A gene like
FOXP2 that is virtually invariant in the normal population
[27,30,35], could cast light on both sorts of
mechanisms: directly, on invariant processes in which it
participates, and indirectly, by allowing the identification
of other elements of these pathways that might vary
between individuals. In each way, future studies of FOXP2
could provide a significant wedge into the understanding
of our unique linguistic heritage.:
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