This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison.
News vs. Science
An article published in Nature in 2002 by Enard et al. revealed a gene, FOXP2, involved in the evolution of human speech and language. The investigators identified positions in the human amino acid sequence of FOXP2 that are likely to be important to the function of gene in the development of human language. The investigators also showed that the gene has undergone recent selection, and correlated the gene's fixation with the emergence of human language. The investigators used appropriate statistics to identify signatures of natural selection, and explained the rationale for the use of these statistics. The steps taken to investigate the gene's role in the evolution and development of speech followed a logical order, and provided a solid justification for the conclusions they drew.
This publication led to an article released in Scientific American titled "Gene Study Explains Chatty Humans, Speechless Apes" by Kate Wong. The article, although rather short, discusses and explains the big picture findings of the scientific investigation well. The article mentions the identification of two amino acid changes in the protein sequence, and explains what effects the mutations have on human's ability to speak. Following this, Wong explains how the authors estimation of the since the fixation of the FOXP2 variant in the human population correlates with the emergence of speech in humans and that language may have been an important factor in the expansion of the human race. The author does well at explaining the key points, as she omits the details of the analyses performed by the investigators. The author did not discuss the details of the analyses performed by the investigators, while still explaining the rationale behind the results obtained. In doing so, the author clearly explained the findings of the publication.
References
1. Enard W, Przeworski M, Fisher SE, Lai CSL, Kitano WV, et al. (2002) Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language. Nature 418:869–872. PMID: 12192408
2. Wong, K. (2002, August 15) Gene study explains chatty humans, speechless apes. <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=gene-study-explains-chatt>
Andrew Tritt
tritt at wisc dot edu
Last updated 03/15/2009
Genetics 677
