Scientists Implant Human Language Gene in Mice, Transforming Their Vocalization!

The introduction, in mice, of the human variant of the gene Nova1a gene of language, modified the cries of these rodents.

Nova1, The Mammalian language gene

As with most of our faculties, our way of communicating is managed by a very specific gene. Common to all mammals, the gene Nova1 is the one associated with language, although for humans, it is slightly different. Indeed, while all the other mammals have the same Nova1, ours is different from an amino acid.

A modification which would be at the origin of our faculty to speak. Researchers from Rockefeller University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York believe that this slight change has played a crucial role in the origins of our language, according to Science. There is also another gene, the FOXP2which is found for example in mice and found in Neanderthal DNA, although researchers are not sure that it is responsible for our current way of speaking.

The gene Nova1 human injected into mice

The gene Nova1 “is part of a radical evolutionary change in the first modern humans and suggests potentially ancient origins of spoken language”, declares the neuro-oncologist Robert Darnell of Rockefeller University in Science. The latter also, with his team, injected the human variant of Nova1 In mice, and the results are surprising.

Indeed, in a study published in the journal Nature On February 18, researchers discovered that after injection, mice emit different cries. For example, “modified” juveniles pushed cries at higher frequencies, than the lambda juveniles. The cries of male mice were also different during the nuptial parade, being more frequent and more complex. “They spoke differently to female mice”declares the neuro-oncologist.

More than a language of language

The reasons why the mice with the human variant have different cries still remain determined. However, knowing that the gene Nova1 Influence more than 90 % of other human genes during development, it could be that the latter causes molecular changes in certain parts of the brain brain, according to researchers.

It remains to be seen whether this hypothesis will be verified in the future, and if our speech faculty in our way of communicating between us, could one day be reproduced on animals.

Source: Sciencealerlet