Alagöz Gökberk, Eising Else, Mekki Yasmina, Bignardi Giacomo, Fontanillas Pierre, Nivard Michel G, Luciano Michelle, Cox Nancy J, Fisher Simon E, Gordon Reyna L
Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Nat Hum Behav. 2025 Feb;9(2):376-390. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-02051-y. Epub 2024 Nov 21.
This study aimed to test theoretical predictions over biological underpinnings of previously documented phenotypic correlations between human language-related and musical rhythm traits. Here, after identifying significant genetic correlations between rhythm, dyslexia and various language-related traits, we adapted multivariate methods to capture genetic signals common to genome-wide association studies of rhythm (N = 606,825) and dyslexia (N = 1,138,870). The results revealed 16 pleiotropic loci (P < 5 × 10) jointly associated with rhythm impairment and dyslexia, and intricate shared genetic and neurobiological architectures. The joint genetic signal was enriched for foetal and adult brain cell-specific regulatory regions, highlighting complex cellular composition in their shared underpinnings. Local genetic correlation with a key white matter tract (the left superior longitudinal fasciculus-I) substantiated hypotheses about auditory-motor connectivity as a genetically influenced, evolutionarily relevant neural endophenotype common to rhythm and language processing. Overall, we provide empirical evidence of multiple aspects of shared biology linking language and musical rhythm, contributing novel insight into the evolutionary relationships between human musicality and linguistic communication traits.
本研究旨在验证关于人类语言相关特征与音乐节奏特征之间先前记录的表型相关性的生物学基础的理论预测。在此，在确定了节奏、阅读障碍与各种语言相关特征之间的显著遗传相关性后，我们采用多变量方法来捕捉节奏（N = 606,825）和阅读障碍（N = 1,138,870）全基因组关联研究共有的遗传信号。结果揭示了16个多效性位点（P < 5×10）与节奏障碍和阅读障碍共同相关，以及复杂的共享遗传和神经生物学结构。联合遗传信号在胎儿和成人脑细胞特异性调控区域中富集，突出了它们共享基础中的复杂细胞组成。与关键白质束（左侧上纵束-I）的局部遗传相关性证实了关于听觉-运动连通性作为节奏和语言处理共有的遗传影响、进化相关神经内表型的假设。总体而言，我们提供了将语言和音乐节奏联系起来的共享生物学多个方面的实证证据，为人类音乐才能与语言交流特征之间的进化关系提供了新的见解。
