Human and chimpanzee-similar primates have distinct language gene polymorphism patterns

Abstract

AbstractThe difference in language gene polymorphism pattern (LGPP) between human and other primates may help to provide novel useful knowledge for language learning. One of important findings from many years’ worldwide research is that the primates like chimpanzee cannot easily recognize language grammars (even words). In this study, 189 SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) in 13 language genes were scanned in 29 whole genomes from different human and primates populations. The 19 distinct SNPs in primates genomes were pointed out in several language genes including TPK1 that correlates with human’s syntactic and lexical ability. PCA analysis found that LGPPs for primates were highly aggregated together but they are distant from human’s LGPPs; representative human samples displayed high dispersion levels from each other in the context of LGPP. The above results may highlight a possibility that the LGPP should have more intermediate forms between human and chimpanzee-like primates.