Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30078708›Full record

ArticleCell2018

No Evidence for Recent Selection at FOXP2 among Diverse Human Populations.

Elizabeth Grace Atkinson, Amanda Jane Audesse, Julia Adela Palacios, Dean Michael Bobo, Ashley Elizabeth Webb, Sohini Ramachandran, Brenna Mariah Henn

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
43citing papers in PubMed
7.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

43 citing papers in PubMed, 157 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  5. Gene Expression-Based Lesion-Symptom Mapping:The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
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  12. Evolution is in the details: Regulatory differences in modern human and Neanderthal.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2025
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Genetics of human brain development.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2024
    Review
  16. Article
  17. From fossils to mind.Communications biology · 2023
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Elizabeth Grace AtkinsonDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA. Electronic address: eatkinso@broadinstitute.org.
Amanda Jane AudesseDepartment of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Julia Adela PalaciosDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Department of Statistics and Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Dean Michael BoboDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Ashley Elizabeth WebbDepartment of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Sohini RamachandranDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Brenna Mariah HennDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA; Department of Anthropology and the Genome Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: bmhenn@ucdavis.edu.
Brown University · USStony Brook University · USAllen Institute for Brain Science · US

Funding

The role of Sirtuins in neurodegenerative diseaseP20GM109035 · NIGMS · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI WU, ZHIJIN JEAN · 2016 to 2025
$22.6M
IRACDA - The New York Consortium for the Advancement of Postdoctoral Scholars (NY CAPS)Phase IIK12GM102778 · NIGMS · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · PI Carol A. Carter, Karian Janice Wright · 2012 to 2026
$13.1M
Interdisciplinary Predoctoral Neuroscience Training Program in the Neuroscience Graduate Program.T32MH020068 · NIMH · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI LIPSCOMBE, DIANE, SHEINBERG, DAVID L · 1999 to 2025
$7.6M
Novel statistical methods to localize genomic elements underlying adaptive evolutionR01GM118652 · NIGMS · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI RAMACHANDRAN, SOHINI · 2016 to 2020
$1.6M
NIGMS NIH HHS K12 GM102778NIGMS NIH HHS P20 GM109035NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM118652NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH020068
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

FOXP2, initially identified for its role in human speech, contains two nonsynonymous substitutions derived in the human lineage. Evidence for a recent selective sweep in Homo sapiens, however, is at odds with the presence of these substitutions in archaic hominins. Here, we comprehensively reanalyze FOXP2 in hundreds of globally distributed genomes to test for recent selection. We do not find evidence of recent positive or balancing selection at FOXP2. Instead, the original signal appears to have been due to sample composition. Our tests do identify an intronic region that is enriched for highly conserved sites that are polymorphic among humans, compatible with a loss of function in humans. This region is lowly expressed in relevant tissue types that were tested via RNA-seq in human prefrontal cortex and RT-PCR in immortalized human brain cells. Our results represent a substantial revision to the adaptive history of FOXP2, a gene regarded as vital to human evolution.

Indexed as

BrainCell LineDatabases, GeneticExonsFemaleForkhead Transcription FactorsGenome, HumanHaplotypesHumansIntronsMaleMarkov ChainsPolymorphism, Single NucleotidePrefrontal CortexForkhead Transcription FactorsFOXP2 protein, humandemographyFOXP2human brainhuman evolutionlanguagenatural selectionpopulation structure

Identifiers

PMID30078708
PMCPMC6128738
OpenAlexW2887556343

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.