04.06.2008, Turkish Daily News

Fitting yesterday’s genes in today’s jeans

Quadrupedal locomotion syndrome, an extremely rare condition that prevents walking up right, may have inspired a genetic resolution. Professor Tayfun Özçelik, a geneticist at Ankara’s Bilkent University, claims he has discovered a mutated gene, which causes the syndrome.

A Turkish scientist claims to have discovered the gene that allows human beings to walk upright by studying families who carry a gene for rare condition that causes those affected to walk on all fours, reported a British newspaper Monday.

A handful of families worldwide are affected by quadrupedal locomotion syndrome, which causes those affected to walk on all fours. This condition is the result of a genetic mutation, according to experts. Professor Tayfun Özçelik, a geneticist at Bilkent University in Ankara, claims he has discovered the mutated gene, which causes the rare syndrome.

Though some experts describe the discovery of the gene as revolutionary, saying it will allow scientists to discover why human beings began walking upright as part of the evolutionary process, others believe the findings cannot be related to evolution, reported The Guardian.

“We think this protein is critical for the proper development of the nervous system and our unique ability to balance and adopt a bipedal gait,” Özçelik told The Guardian.

The syndrome gained widespread attention in 2006 when the BBC aired a documentary on the lives of five affected members of the Ulaş family, who live in the Hatay province of Turkey.

All the families Özçelik worked with are offspring of marriages between cousins. Marriages between relatives appear to be the common factor in all the families who are affected by the condition. Özçelik tested four unrelated families with the condition, believed to be caused by faulty brain development. The disorder also impairs speech and mental ability.

Turkish scientist discovers new gene

Although this condition is generally thought to be rare, some academics claim that it is not as rare is commonly believed.” We have found other families, around eight in Turkey alone, who suffer from this condition,” said Professor Üner Tan, a neurophysiologist at Çukurova Universtiy in Adana province. He said he worked with Özçelik on certain families and searches the family tress of those people. “ The findings of Özçelik are very significant for science and scientists in Turkey,” said Tan.

Özçelik’s findings are thought by some to provide the missing link in the theory of evolution and explain hoe people started to walk upright. “ We may have that gene too. As this gene has been mutated in a positive way, people started to walk upright,” said Tan. He claimed the findings prove that a mutation in genes led people walk upright. “ The findings of Özçelik are very significant for the science and scientists in Turkey,” he told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

Light on evolution

The results of the study do not support the idea that our ancestors walked on all fours, according to some scientists. The condition could shed light on our evolutionary history and overturn the widely held belief that our ancestors all walked on all fours like modern day apes, said Prof. Nicholos Humphrey, a psychologist at the London School of Economics. “What’s intriguing is how easily these people seem to take to this alternative gait when they can’t walk properly. It rises the question of whether this was how our ancestors walked,” he said.

Some scientists believe that walking on all fours is a result of a genetic problem, and that those affected by the condition may walk upright if they are treated and re-trained. “I think we cannot say this condition and evolution has any relation, there is a great deal of research that proves the evolution, but we can’t say the same for this one,” said Arzu Çelik, an academic from Boğaziçi University.

Aslı Tolun, an academic from Boğaziçi University, said genetic research needs to be better supported in Turkey. “ New research is starting to be published on genetics recently in Turkey,” said Tolun. She said those discoveries are rarely published by Turkish scientists because of the absence of support for genetic science in the country.