Area X” of Zebra Finch May Provide Insights to Human Speech Disorders

 


A portion of the male zebra finch's brain known as "Area X" contains approximately 2,000 genes that are associated with singing and are also found in humans. When the bird sings, the levels of expression of the genes change, and researchers at U C L-A have come up with a way to see which genes are changing together. They hope to better comprehend speech-related disorders by utilizing the similarities between the human brain and the songbird brain. 


Is it possible that the song of a small bird can shed light on human stuttering and other speech-related disorders and conditions, such as stroke and autism? There is cause for optimism in the brand-new study by life scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (U C L-A) and their colleagues


A male zebra finch's brain contains approximately 2,000 genes that are strongly linked to singing. This region contains more than 1,500 genes for the first time. The study has been published in the online version of the leading neuroscience journal Neuron


Scientists now know that vocalization involves a lot more genes than previously thought. Language is unique to humans, but songbirds and other animals share some of its components with us. According to researchers, the zebra finch may use the same genes as humans to make new sounds


Reel in, a crucial gene, is thought to be responsible for human autism susceptibility. Language difficulties are common among autistic children. Fox P-2, a "master gene" that controls the activation and deactivation of numerous other genes, is necessary for speech and birdsong. Both may play a significant role in speech disorders and human speech


Neuroscience demonstrates that our actions can also alter brain function. A collection of genes that are responsible for various behaviors are activated when you practice hitting a baseball or tennis serve. Numerous genes can be activated by a particular behavior. Over time, our actions may have an impact on our brain genes and our behavior


Julie Miller, a researcher at U C L-A, removed Area X from the basal ganglia of zebra finches. The genes in Area X are identical, but not necessary for singing. This tissue is used for perching and flying. In order to determine which genes are involved in song, researchers looked at 20,000 genes, both within and outside of Area X


White stated, "We saw surprisingly similar overall levels of gene expression when we looked across the two parts of the basal ganglia—Area X, which is important for song, and just outside of Area X, which is important for other behaviors". There wasn't much of a difference. The only difference was in how those genes changed in relation to one another.


There are approximately 9,000 species of birds, with songbirds accounting for approximately half of these. White stated that some bat species, elephants, and dolphins also mimic vocalizations. 


The brains of humans and songbirds share many important similarities.


"I'm extremely keen on the human way of behaving," White said, "however, people are excessively convoluted to concentrate thoroughly at the cell and synaptic level". We need a model that focuses on learned sounds, like the songbird, to study speech problems. 


In future exploration, White's lab will concentrate on the job of reeling in the zebra finch and mice. She and her coworkers will also keep studying Fox P-2. Additionally, she intends to investigate hundreds of interconnected genes

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