ROBO1 is expressed at P0 in marmoset IC, yet not at all in postnatal rat IC. FoxP1 and ROBO1 expression patterns in the MG are the same as in rodent. The thalamocortical–basal ganglia circuit is known to play a role in voluntary motor control. Neuroimaging studies of KE family members found a decrease in gray matter volume in the caudate nucleus (CU) and an increase in gray matter volume in the putamen (PU), in affected compared with unaffected members (Watkins, Vargha-Khadem,

et al., 2002). There is somatotopic representation of the body in the primary motor cortex including the area for orofacial movements (Brown, Ngan, & Liotti, 2008). People with a nonfunctional FOXP2 allele show click here impairments in orofacial movements ( Vargha-Khadem et al., 1995 and Watkins et al., 2002). Moreover, it has been reported that several animals express FOXP2 in a thalamocortical–basal ganglia circuit consisting of the cortex, basal ganglia (including the CD, PU, substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNR), and internal segment of the globus pallidus

(IGP)), and thalamus (including the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) and ventral lateral thalamic nucleus (VL)) ( Enard, 2011, Takahashi et al., 2008, Teramitsu and White, 2006 and Vargha-Khadem et al., 2005). We found FoxP2 was expressed in the basal ganglia ( Fig. 3), thalamus ( Fig. 2), and specific layers selleck screening library of the cerebral cortex ( Fig. 5) in the marmoset brain. In the primary motor cortex, almost all human speech- and reading-related genes were expressed in layers V and VI ( Fig. 5 and Table 2), different to the expression patterns reported in other species. For example, in mice, Foxp1 is not expressed in the same layers as Foxp2, specifically, Foxp1 is expressed in layers III–V, while Foxp2 is expressed Y-27632 datasheet in layer VI ( Ferland et al., 2003). However, we demonstrate FoxP1 expression in layers III–VI, and FoxP2 in layers V and VI, confirming the report by Mashiko et al. Moreover, expression overlap between FoxP1 and FoxP2 is observed in cortical layers in macaque monkey and human fetal brain ( Takahashi et al., 2008 and Teramitsu et al., 2004).

Similarly, ROBO1 was expressed in layer VI in marmoset, but not rat brain ( Marillat et al., 2002). In general, layer V neurons project to the basal ganglia, and layer VI neurons to the thalamus ( Haber & Calzavara, 2009). Human speech- and reading-related genes were also expressed in thalamic nuclei, specifically, the VL and MD ( Fig. 2 and Table 2) that project to the primary motor cortex, which works in association with other motor areas to plan and execute movements ( McFarland and Haber, 2000 and McFarland and Haber, 2002). The inferior olive (IO) functions in learning and timing of motor control (De Zeeuw et al., 1998). Foxp2 and Foxp1 are expressed in the IO in mice ( Ferland et al., 2003, Fujita and Sugihara, 2012 and Lai et al., 2003), and FOXP2 in human IO ( Lai et al., 2003).