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The gene FOXP2, known to be important to language ability, has not undergone strong selection in humans over the past few hundred thousand years, a new genomic analysis finds. The results, published yesterday (August 2) in Cell, overturn those of a 2002 study that found evidence of a rapid and recent spread of a FOXP2 variant through human populations.
Defects in FOXP2 were discovered in a family with multiple members who had speech impairments, and the gene became known for its importance in language ability. By appearing to show that speech-friendly variants of the gene had swept through the human population relatively recently, the 2002 study fed a popular idea that the gene was key to the evolution of language and for setting Homo sapiens apart from other animals. Subsequent studies have found “human” FOXP2 variants in Neanderthals and Denisovans, however.
With the release of the new ...
