Scientists create transgenic mice with human speech genes
29/05/200921:47

MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - Scientists have created genetically modified mice which carry in their DNA a human variant of the gene responsible for speech capabilities, Cell journal wrote on Friday.

The tone quality of cheep through which mice communicate with other mice was different, and there were changes in the operation of the brain, which could be used for human evolution studies, said the study's authors.

The FOXP2 gene's involvement in human speech development was discovered in 1998, when scientists studied a British family, many of whose members suffered from speech disorders. They were found to carry in their DNA an abnormal copy of the gene.

So mice could be used as models not only for studying human diseases but for evolutionary studies as well, scientists said.

ovo bi trebalo da se proba sa shimpanzama a ne sa mishevima