Species15
Alignment columns772
Conserved94.0%
Human-specific sites2
What sequence differences remain after curating complete FOXP2 proteins across vertebrates?
The revised analysis compared 14 complete sequences of at least 700 amino acids plus a 693-amino-acid alligator partial sequence. Fragmentary entries in the earlier run were replaced with full cow, pig, and Pteropus bat proteins.
- Taxa
- Mammals, birds, platypus, and crocodilians
- Alignment
- Full MAFFT alignment without TrimAl
- Identity
- Verified on pairwise non-gap positions
- Quality exception
- Alligator retained as a labeled partial sequence
Sequence curation, full alignment, pairwise verification, and substitution review
Audit sequence lengthsIdentified short fragments and replaced them where complete orthologs were available.
Align complete proteinsRan MAFFT across the revised 15-species set and retained all 772 columns.
Verify identitiesCalculated pairwise identity over positions where both sequences contain amino acids.
Inspect human sitesChecked candidate substitutions against all 14 non-human sequences in the revised matrix.
FOXP2 is highly conserved across the selected vertebrates
94.0% conserved
726 of 772 alignment columns were conserved; 46 columns, or 6.0%, varied.
Human–chimp
Pairwise amino-acid identity was 99.72% in the revised analysis.
Broad conservation
Human–zebra finch identity was 98.87%; human–platypus was the reported minimum at 97.46%.
Two human-specific sites
T303N and N325S were reported as human-specific, with the ancestral state retained in all 14 non-human sequences.
The downloadable PDF contains both revised and stale analyses
- The revised opening summary and figures should control; the later legacy body still lists fragment species such as dog, bat, elephant, and canary.
- The legacy body reports a 706-column TrimAl alignment and 86 variable sites, which conflict with the revised 772-column full alignment and 46 variable sites.
- The legacy section says N325S is shared with dog, while the revised analysis reports both T303N and N325S as human-specific.
- The alligator sequence is partial and may bias comparisons involving terminal positions.
- High protein identity does not demonstrate a causal mechanism for language, vocal learning, or species-specific behavior; regulatory changes and functional assays are outside this analysis.
Confidence boundary
Use the revised sequence set, matrix, and summary for descriptive comparison. Evolutionary and language-related interpretations remain hypotheses.
Revised outputs represented in the session
revised sequence set14 complete proteins plus one labeled partialfull MAFFT alignment772 untrimmed columnspairwise identity matrixGap-aware identity comparisonshuman-specific site reviewT303N and N325S verificationrevised figuresUpdated identity and conservation viewsOriginal session report14-page PDF containing revised results followed by the stale legacy body described above.
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