Speech disorders—like stuttering—are most often treated with behavioral therapy, though a number of potential physical causes have been identified. Some studies have suggested that stuttering may be genetic, and new research appears to support that argument. A report published in the journal Current Biology details a recent study where young mice bred to carry a specific human gene mutation were shown to be more prone to stuttering.
In 2010, researchers found that a mutation in the N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate transferase gene (Gnptab) is relatively common in people who stutter, but it’s nowhere to be found in people with normal speech patterns. To further investigate whether the mutation actually causes stuttering, a different group of researchers bred the mutation into a generation of laboratory mice.
via Mental Floss
Image: CURRENT BIOLOGY DOI: (10.1016/J.CUB.2016.02.068) // COPYRIGHT © 2016 ELSEVIER LTD
