Fisher Group - Molecular Neuroscience
Molecular windows into speech and language
The laboratory pioneers new ways of uncovering brain pathways that are important for speech and language development, approaching this fascinating question from a unique perspective. Our research strategy is based on the idea that genes implicated in language disorders can provide "molecular windows" into neural mechanisms contributing to human communication. In previous work, with Prof. Anthony Monaco and Prof. Faraneh Vargha-Khadem, we discovered that people who carry abnormalities in a gene known as FOXP2 have difficulties with the learning and production of the complicated sequences of mouth movements needed for speech. These problems are accompanied by deficits in many aspects of language and grammar.
The FOXP2 gene encodes an important regulatory protein that switches on and off other genes in the developing and mature brain. Our studies of human neuron-like cell-lines show that the mutations associated with speech/language problems prevent the FOXP2 gene from functioning properly. FOXP2 appears to help regulate development and function of a subset of brain circuits in a wide range of non-speaking vertebrates, but evidence suggests that its role may have been modified during human evolution. The discovery of FOXP2 represented the first time that a gene has been clearly linked to speech and language development, and so has generated a substantial degree of interest amongst scientists and in the media. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that FOXP2 is not the mythical "gene for language", but instead represents one piece of a complex evolutionary puzzle, involving multiple factors.
We currently have underway a number of complementary approaches for uncovering the origins and bases of speech and language pathways, taking FOXP2 as a starting point. These include identification and study of people who have speech/language deficits as a consequence of FOXP2 mutation, investigations of gene function in neurons grown in the laboratory, and exploration of the ways that this gene impacts on the development and function of the mammalian central nervous system. We exploit state-of-the-art functional genomic techniques (including high-throughput gene expression profiling and chromatin-immunoprecipitation) to identify other elements of the pathways that FOXP2 regulates in living cells.