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Holly Root

Bio: Holly Root is an academic researcher from National Institutes of Health. The author has contributed to research in topics: Chromosome 4 & Bacterial artificial chromosome. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 4 publications receiving 7117 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
27 Jun 1997-Science
TL;DR: A mutation was identified in the α-synuclein gene, which codes for a presynaptic protein thought to be involved in neuronal plasticity, in the Italian kindred and in three unrelated families of Greek origin with autosomal dominant inheritance for the PD phenotype.
Abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with a lifetime incidence of approximately 2 percent. A pattern of familial aggregation has been documented for the disorder, and it was recently reported that a PD susceptibility gene in a large Italian kindred is located on the long arm of human chromosome 4. A mutation was identified in the α-synuclein gene, which codes for a presynaptic protein thought to be involved in neuronal plasticity, in the Italian kindred and in three unrelated families of Greek origin with autosomal dominant inheritance for the PD phenotype. This finding of a specific molecular alteration associated with PD will facilitate the detailed understanding of the pathophysiology of the disorder.

7,387 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: This study suggests two new molecular markers specific for inflammatory breast cancer, RhoC GTPase and LIBC, which are highly correlated with the inflammatory phenotype when a panel of archival inflammatory breast cancers was compared with noninflammatory stage III breast cancers by in situ hybridization.
Abstract: Inflammatory breast cancer is a rapidly growing, distinct form of locally advanced breast cancer that carries a guarded prognosis. To identify the genes that contribute to this aggressive phenotype, we compared under- and overexpressed sequences in an inflammatory breast tumor cell line with those of actively replicating normal human mammary epithelial cell lines using differential display. Of the 17 transcripts isolated and characterized from these experiments, overexpression of RhoC GTPase and loss of expression of a novel gene on 6q22, LIBC (lost in inflammatory breast cancer), were highly correlated ( P < 0.0095 and P < 0.0013, respectively) with the inflammatory phenotype when a panel of archival inflammatory breast cancers was compared with noninflammatory stage III breast cancers by in situ hybridization. This study suggests two new molecular markers specific for inflammatory breast cancer.

266 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This contig allowed us to precisely determine the location of 18 transcripts within the D4S2460-D4S2986 interval, including the alpha-synuclein gene found to be mutated in some families with Parkinson's disease.
Abstract: We have constructed a yeast artificial chromosome contig (YAC) map of human chromosome 4q21q23 across the Parkinson's disease region by combining molecular and fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques. This map contains 55 YACs and 51 molecular markers, including 23 polymorphic markers. We have also isolated one PI and 33 bacterial artificial chromosomes located within this contig. Plasmid libraries were generated from 11 of these BAC and PI clones, and 614 random plasmid clones were sequenced for a total of about 200 kb. This contig allowed us to precisely determine the location of 18 transcripts within the D4S2460-D4S2986 interval, including the alpha-synuclein gene found to be mutated in some families with Parkinson's disease.

13 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: )Center for Medical Genetics, Johns Hopkins University, 600 NorthWolfe Street, Blalock 1012G, Baltimore, MD 21287-4922, USAe-mail: imcintos@welchlink.jhu.edu
Abstract: )Center for Medical Genetics, Johns Hopkins University, 600 NorthWolfe Street, Blalock 1012G, Baltimore, MD 21287-4922, USAe-mail: imcintos@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu, Tel.: +1 410 955 7948,Fax: +1 410 614 2522H. RootGenome Technology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USAK. M. Scott · J. E. RichardsDepartment of Ophthamology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USAM. K. McCormick

7 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
Robert H. Waterston1, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh2, Ewan Birney, Jane Rogers3  +219 moreInstitutions (26)
05 Dec 2002-Nature
TL;DR: The results of an international collaboration to produce a high-quality draft sequence of the mouse genome are reported and an initial comparative analysis of the Mouse and human genomes is presented, describing some of the insights that can be gleaned from the two sequences.
Abstract: The sequence of the mouse genome is a key informational tool for understanding the contents of the human genome and a key experimental tool for biomedical research. Here, we report the results of an international collaboration to produce a high-quality draft sequence of the mouse genome. We also present an initial comparative analysis of the mouse and human genomes, describing some of the insights that can be gleaned from the two sequences. We discuss topics including the analysis of the evolutionary forces shaping the size, structure and sequence of the genomes; the conservation of large-scale synteny across most of the genomes; the much lower extent of sequence orthology covering less than half of the genomes; the proportions of the genomes under selection; the number of protein-coding genes; the expansion of gene families related to reproduction and immunity; the evolution of proteins; and the identification of intraspecies polymorphism.

6,643 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
09 Apr 1998-Nature
TL;DR: Mutations in the newly identified gene appear to be responsible for the pathogenesis of Autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism, and the protein product is named ‘Parkin’.
Abstract: Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease with complex clinical features1. Autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (AR-JP)2,3 maps to the long arm of chromosome 6 (6q25.2-q27) and is linked strongly to the markers D6S305 and D6S253 (ref. 4); the former is deleted in one Japanese AR-JP patient5. By positional cloning within this microdeletion, we have now isolated a complementary DNA clone of 2,960 base pairs with a 1,395-base-pair open reading frame, encoding a protein of 465 amino acids with moderate similarity to ubiquitin at the amino terminus and a RING-finger motif at the carboxy terminus. The gene spans more than 500 kilobases and has 12 exons, five of which (exons 3–7) are deleted in the patient. Four other AR-JP patients from three unrelated families have a deletion affecting exon 4 alone. A 4.5-kilobase transcript that is expressed in many human tissues but is abundant in the brain, including the substantia nigra, is shorter in brain tissue from one of the groups of exon-4-deleted patients. Mutations in the newly identified gene appear to be responsible for the pathogenesis of AR-JP, and we have therefore named the protein product ‘Parkin’.

4,922 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
11 Sep 2003-Neuron
TL;DR: PD models based on the manipulation of PD genes should prove valuable in elucidating important aspects of the disease, such as selective vulnerability of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons to the degenerative process.

4,872 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings in other neurodegenerative diseases indicate that a broadly similar process of neuronal dysfunction is induced by diffusible oligomers of misfolded proteins.
Abstract: The distinct protein aggregates that are found in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and prion diseases seem to cause these disorders. Small intermediates - soluble oligomers - in the aggregation process can confer synaptic dysfunction, whereas large, insoluble deposits might function as reservoirs of the bioactive oligomers. These emerging concepts are exemplified by Alzheimer's disease, in which amyloid beta-protein oligomers adversely affect synaptic structure and plasticity. Findings in other neurodegenerative diseases indicate that a broadly similar process of neuronal dysfunction is induced by diffusible oligomers of misfolded proteins.

4,499 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
31 Oct 2003-Science
TL;DR: In this article, the α-synuclein was identified as the major component of Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease, and of glial cell cytoplasmic inclusions.
Abstract: Mutations in the α-synuclein gene ( SNCA ) in the Contursi kindred ([ 1 ][1]) implicated this gene in Parkinson's disease (PD). Subsequently, α-synuclein was identified as the major component of Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark of PD, and of glial cell cytoplasmic inclusions ([ 2 ][2]). We

3,948 citations