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Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on December 23, 2004
Journal of Heredity 2005 96(3):212-216; doi:10.1093/jhered/esi025
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© 2005 The American Genetic Association

FoxP2 in Song-Learning Birds and Vocal-Learning Mammals

D. M. Webb, and J. Zhang

From the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Address correspondence to Jianzhi Zhang, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 3003 Natural Science Building, 830 North University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, or e-mail: jianzhi{at}umich.edu.

FoxP2 is the first identified gene that is specifically involved in speech and language development in humans. Population genetic studies of FoxP2 revealed a selective sweep in recent human history associated with two amino acid substitutions in exon 7. Avian song learning and human language acquisition share many behavioral and neurological similarities. To determine whether FoxP2 plays a similar role in song-learning birds, we sequenced exon 7 of FoxP2 in multiple song-learning and nonlearning birds. We show extreme conservation of FoxP2 sequences in birds, including unusually low rates of synonymous substitutions. However, no amino acid substitutions are shared between the song-learning birds and humans. Furthermore, sequences from vocal-learning whales, dolphins, and bats do not share the human-unique substitutions. While FoxP2 appears to be under strong functional constraints in mammals and birds, we find no evidence for its role during the evolution of vocal learning in nonhuman animals as in humans.


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