FOREBRAIN DISTRIBUTION OF FOXP2 IN HUMANS AND NONHUMAN PRIMATES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Language is one of the principal cognitive and behavioral specializations of humans, a fact that has spurred studies of its evolutionary and genetic foundations. Humans who carry mutated forms of the gene FOXP2 suffer severe and relatively specific impairments of speech and language, prompting speculation that evolutionary changes in the expression or physiological action of FOXP2 influenced the evolution of language in humans. We have developed an antibody to FOXP2 and are using it to determine where in the brain the protein is expressed in humans, and in closely related species that lack language, specifically chimpanzees and humans. We hypothesize that FOXP2 expression will be greater in language-related areas of the human brain than in homologous regions of non-human primate brains.