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Experiment:
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I. Geschwind's team engineered lines of brain cells in which they could turn FOXP2 on and off, and measure what happened to other genes as they did so.
II. Then they did the same thing with brain cells into which the human version of FOXP2 had been replaced with its chimpanzee counterpart.
III. Armed with a list of genes linked to FOXP2 in both species or just one, the researchers then measured the activity levels of those genes in brain tissue samples from humans and chimps.
IV. This revealed 116 genes connected only to the human version of FOXP2 , which indeed appears to have accumulated many new functions in humans. (61->switch-on ; 55->switch-off ) see:
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2009/11/foxp2activation.jpg
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"We were able to identify a network of genes connected to FOXP2," said Geschwind.
"Maybe this will give us an entry into to the broader view of what's going on.
We won't just study one gene, but the whole biological network related to language.
FOXP2 is the window, but the network is going to be the story."
"We found that the targets of the gene are not only involved in brain function.
Some of them are involved in the development of non-nervous system tissue and cranial structures involved in speech production.
That's remarkable," said Gerschwind.
"Now that we have these targets, we can ask what each of them does," said Geschwind, who envisions running the same type of experiment with the new genes, and using brain imaging techniques to connect their activity with neurological function.
"Because this identified pathways and networks, there are a bunch of directions to go in," said Geschwind.
url:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/language-genes/
Marius
P.S. I would say again, what I'm thinking for a long time: That the Darwiniam Evolutionism based only 'on Random Mutations' is a stupidity...