Researchers have found a reason why some people can spout beautiful prose while others spend eternity with a sweaty foot in their mouths.
Anthony Monaco, of Oxford University, and a team of researchers have found a gene that triggers numerous other genes into developing. Those downstream genes appear to be the key to speech patterns.
The novel study involved observing a large family, in which some family members have a hard time pronouncing words and others seem to speak far more effortlessly.
After studying the family, the researchers were able to locate a single, mutated piece of DNA that all of the effected family members had. That one piece of DNA is one of 6,500 DNA pieces in the gene, but is enough to drastically alter the entire faculty of speaking.
Monaco's research started in 1998, and shortly thereafter he locate the affected gene on the seventh of 23 chromosomes.
In the tiny region of the seventh chromosome, there are up to 100 genes, making the last few years a microscopic game of hide-and-seek.
