This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison.

Targets of FOXP2

Direct neural targets of FOXP2 have been identified via ChIP-chip analysis of human neuronal tissue cell lines. Authors transfected lines to constitutively express FOXP2, and compared the expression profile of these lines to normal neuronal cell lines. The authors found significant changes in expression profiles when FOXP2 levels were increased. The data indicates that FOXP2 acts as a repressor as well as an activator. Furthermore, the results suggest that FOXP2 plays a role in synapic plasticity, neurodevelopment, neurotransmission, and axon guidance. (2) Further ChIP-chip analysis of FOXP2 in human neuronal cell lines identified fourteen targets of FOXP2 which show signatures of natural selection. These targets are believed to comprise a set of genes involved in the acquisition of human speech and language 
(1). 


References

1. Spiteri E, Konopka G, Coppola G, Bomar J, Oldham M, Ou J, Vernes SC, Fisher SE, Ren B, Geschwind DH (2007) Identification of transcriptional targets of FOXP2, a gene linked to speech and language, in developing human brain. Am J Hum Genet 81:1144-1157 PMID: 17999357
2. Vernes SC, Spiteri E, Nicod J, Groszer M, Taylor JM, Davies KE, Geschwind DH, Fisher SE (2007) High-throuhgput analysis of promoter occupancy reveals direct nueral targets of FOXP2, a gene mutated in speech and language disorders. Am J Hum Genet 81:1232-1250 PMID: 17999362



Andrew Tritt
tritt at wisc dot edu
Last Updated 05/13/2009
Genetics 677