Japan bio-scientists produce 'singing mouse'
Japanese scientists said Tuesday they had produced a mouse that
tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they
hope will shed light on the origins of human language.
A team of researchers at the University of Osaka created the animal
in their "Evolved Mouse Project", in which they use genetically modified
mice that are prone to miscopying DNA and thus to mutations.
A mouse genetically engineered to tweet like a bird pictured by
researchers at the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences in
Suita City, western Japan. AFP |
"Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the
genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen,"
lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura told AFP.
"We checked the newly born mice one by one... One day we found a
mouse that was singing like a bird," he said, noting that the "singing
mouse" was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future
generations.
"I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different
in physical shape," he said by telephone, adding that in fact the
project had also produced "a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a
dachshund".
The laboratory, directed by professor Takeshi Yagi at the Osaka
University's Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences in western Japan,
now has more than 100 "singing mice" for further research.
The team hopes they will provide clues on how human language evolved,
just as researchers in other countries study songbirds such as finches
to help them understand the origins of human language.
Scientists have found that birds use different sound elements, put
them together into chunks like words in human languages and then make
strings of them to sing "songs", that are subject to certain linguistic
rules.
"Mice are better than birds to study because they are mammals and
much closer to humans in their brain structures and other biological
aspects," Uchimura said.
"We are watching how a mouse that emits new sounds would affect
ordinary mice in the same group... in other words if it has social
connotations," he said, adding that ordinary mice squeak mainly under
stress.
Considering that mutant mice tweet louder when put in different
environments or when males are put together with females, Uchimura said
their chirps "may be some sort of expressions of their emotions or
bodily conditions."
AFP |