Mouse Model Provides Clues to Human Language Development

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Mouse Model Provides Clues to Human Language Development

 

June 24, 2009

Source: HelmholtzZentrum München

Scientists of the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Zentrum München have made a

major contribution to understanding human language development. Using a

comprehensive screening method, they studied a mouse model carrying a

“humanized version†of a key gene associated with human language.

In the brains of the mice the researchers found alterations which may be closely

linked to speech and language development. Their analyses comprise part of an

international study led by the Leipzig Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary

Anthropology. The findings have been published in the current issue of the

renowned journal Cell.

 

Scientists of the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Zentrum München have

generated and analyzed a mouse model in which parts of the human Foxp2 gene were

introduced. Foxp2 is known to be a key gene for language. Since the human and

chimpanzee lineages diverged, only minimal genetic alterations have occurred,

even with reference to the mouse: The alterations, as scientists surmised, are

closely associated with speech and language ability. However, proof on a

functional level has been lacking until now.

The Helmholtz scientists in the German Mouse Clinic conduct comprehensive

analyses to elucidate which organs are influenced by a gene in this case the

Foxp2 gene. " It is rare for a gene to have only one function, " explained

Professor Hrabé de Angelis, director of the German Mouse Clinic. That is

why a comprehensive research approach like that of the German Mouse Clinic is so

crucial to ensure that relevant gene functions can be identified in the mouse

phenotype.

The study of the Foxp2 mice was funded within the scope of the National Genome

Research Network (NGFN). As with each mouse lineage studied in the German Mouse

Clinic, the Helmholtz scientists analyzed the Foxp2 mice by screening for more

than 300 parameters, including the ability to see and hear, bone density,

important metabolic functions and a number of neurological functions. The mice

carrying the humanized Foxp2 gene showed no physiological abnormalities.

However, behavioral tests showed an altered exploratory behavior and reduced

movement activity both results point to altered brain functions. Further

investigations carried out by the colleagues in Leipzig supported and confirmed

the findings.

In a second step to further substantiate this hypothesis, the Helmholtz

scientists analyzed the heterozygous knockout mouse model in which one of the

normally two copies of the Foxp2 gene is missing. This loss leads to serious

changes: The ability of the mice to hear and learn is diminished in comparison

to their healthy littermates; they have more fat and less muscle, and they eat

more and consume more energy. Moreover, they have altered blood parameters.

" We were able to show that the Foxp2 gene has significant influence on various

organ systems, " Hrabé de Angelis said. " Our research supports the

hypothesis of our colleagues in Leipzig that specifically these alterations in

the brain were the evolutionary step that gave humans the advantage of speech

and language. " Furthermore, the involvement of the Hrabé de Angelis team in the

Leipzig study demonstrates the usefulness of the German Mouse Clinic. Only

through broad-based, comprehensive analysis can scientists recognize even

unexpected effects of genetic defects and thus identify additional functions of

known genes.

 

Love, Gabby. :0)

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" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport