The Identification of Alpha-Synuclein as the First Parkinson Disease Gene.
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
The events that led from an NINDS-sponsored Workshop on Parkinson Disease Research in 1995, to the identification a mere two years later of a mutation in alpha-synuclein as the cause of autosomal dominant Parkinson disease in the Contursi kindred are described.Abstract:
In this Commentary, I describe the events that led from an NINDS-sponsored Workshop on Parkinson Disease Research in 1995, where I was asked to speak about the genetics of Parkinson disease, to the identification a mere two years later of a mutation in alpha-synuclein as the cause of autosomal dominant Parkinson disease in the Contursi kindred. I review the steps we took to first map and then find the mutation in the alpha-synuclein locus and describe the obstacles and the role of serendipity in facilitating the work. Although alpha-synuclein mutations are a rare cause of hereditary PD, the importance of this finding goes far beyond the rare families with hereditary disease because it pinpointed alpha-synuclein as a key contributor to the far more common sporadic form of Parkinson disease. This work confirms William Harvey's observation from 350 years ago that studying rarer forms of a disease is an excellent way to understand the more common forms of that disease. The identification of synuclein's role in hereditary Parkinson disease has opened new avenues of research into the pathogenesis and potential treatments of the common form of Parkinson disease that affects many millions of Americans and tens of millions of human beings worldwide.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The MPTP Story.
TL;DR: Overall, this article attempts to describe how the discovery of this nigral neurotoxicant began, where it is currently, and what the future may hold.
Journal ArticleDOI
Genetic predispositions of Parkinson's disease revealed in patient-derived brain cells.
TL;DR: The interplay between genetic predispositions and midbrain neuronal impairments in people living with PD is discussed and the understanding of robust cellular phenotypes across genetic cohorts of Parkinson’s patients may guide future personalized drug screens in preclinical research.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cellular models of alpha-synuclein toxicity and aggregation.
Marion Delenclos,Jeremy D. Burgess,Agaristi Lamprokostopoulou,Tiago F. Outeiro,Tiago F. Outeiro,Tiago F. Outeiro,Kostas Vekrellis,Pamela J. McLean +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, a review of α-synuclein based cell culture models that reproduce some features of the neuronal populations affected in patients, from basic unicellular organisms to mammalian cell lines and primary neurons, to the cutting edge models of patient-specific cell lines.
Journal ArticleDOI
The role of heparan sulfates in protein aggregation and their potential impact on neurodegeneration.
Auriane Maïza,Sandrine Chantepie,Cecilia Vera,Alexandre Fifre,Minh Bao Huynh,Olivier Stettler,Mohand Ouidir Ouidja,Dulce Papy-Garcia +7 more
TL;DR: The presence of these sulfated polysaccharides in protein inclusions in vivo and their capacity to trigger protein aggregation in vitro strongly suggest that they might play critical roles in the neurodegenerative process.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Mutation in the α-synuclein gene identified in families with Parkinson's disease
Mihael H. Polymeropoulos,Christian Lavedan,Elisabeth Leroy,Susan E. Ide,Anindya Dehejia,Amalia Dutra,Brian L. Pike,Holly Root,Jeffrey Rubenstein,Rebecca Boyer,Edward S. Stenroos,Settara C. Chandrasekharappa,Aglaia Athanassiadou,Theodore Papapetropoulos,William G. Johnson,Alice Lazzarini,Roger C. Duvoisin,Giuseppe Di Iorio,Lawrence I. Golbe,Robert L. Nussbaum +19 more
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
A novel gene containing a trinucleotide repeat that is expanded and unstable on Huntington's disease chromosomes
Marcy E. MacDonald,Christine Ambrose,Mabel P. Duyao,Richard H. Myers,Carol Lin,Lakshmi Srinidhi,Glenn Barnes,Sherryl A.M. Taylor,Marianne James,Nicolet Groot,Heather MacFarlane,Barbara Jenkins,Mary Anne Anderson,Nancy S. Wexler,James F. Gusella,Gillian P. Bates,Sarah Baxendale,Holger Hummerich,Susan F. Kirby,Mike North,S. Youngman,Richard Mott,Günther Zehetner,Zdenek Sedlacek,Annemarie Poustka,Anna-Maria Frischauf,Hans Lehrach,Alan Buckler,Deanna M. Church,Lynn Doucette-Stamm,Michael Conlon O'Donovan,Laura Riba-Ramirez,Manish A. Shah,Vincent P. Stanton,Scott A. Strobel,Karen M. Draths,Jennifer L. Wales,Peter B. Dervan,David E. Housman,Michael R. Altherr,Rita Shiang,Leslie M. Thompson,Thomas J. Fielder,John J. Wasmuth,Danilo A. Tagle,John Valdes,Lawrence W. Elmer,Marc W. Allard,Lucio H. Castilla,Manju Swaroop,Kris Blanchard,Francis S. Collins,Russell G. Snell,Tracey Holloway,Kathleen Gillespie,Nicole A. Datson,Duncan Shaw,Peter S. Harper +57 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used haplotype analysis of linkage disequilibrium to spotlight a small segment of 4p16.3 as the likely location of the defect, which is expanded and unstable on HD chromosomes.
Journal Article
A novel gene containing a trinucleotide repeat that is expanded and unstable on Huntington's disease chromosomes. The Huntington's Disease Collaborative Research Group.
Manish A. Shah,Nicole A. Datson,Lakshmi Srinidhi,Vincent P. Stanton,Marcy E. MacDonald,Marc W. Allard,S. Youngman,Anna-Maria Frischauf,Richard Mott,KM Draths,Günther Zehetner,C. O’Donovan,Thomas J. Fielder,Bruce G. Jenkins,Manju Swaroop,Sherryl A.M. Taylor,Lynn Doucette-Stamm,Heather MacFarlane,Scott A. Strobel,H. E. McFarlane,Alan Buckler,Nicolet Groot,Holger Hummerich,Deanna M. Church,M. A. Anderson,Marianne James,Glenn Barnes,M. Christine,Francis S. Collins,Mabel P. Duyao,Peter B. Dervan,Gillian P. Bates,T Holloway,Peter S. Harper,TW Mcdonald,M North,K Blanchard,John J. Wasmuth,D. Shaw,Hans Lehrach,Danilo A. Tagle,Annemarie Poustka,David E. Housman,T. Huntington,Zdenek Sedlacek,Laura Riba,Susan F. Kirby,Carol Lin,Richard H. Myers,Leslie M. Thompson,Russell G. Snell,Michael Conlon O'Donovan,K Gillespie,Rita Shiang,Nancy S. Wexler,Christine Ambrose,J. F. Gusella,Sarah Baxendale,N. Groat,John Valdes +59 more
TL;DR: The Huntington's disease mutation involves an unstable DNA segment, similar to those described in fragile X syndrome, spino-bulbar muscular atrophy, and myotonic dystrophy, acting in the context of a novel 4p16.3 gene to produce a dominant phenotype.
Journal ArticleDOI
Identification of the cystic fibrosis gene: genetic analysis.
Batsheva Kerem,Johanna M. Rommens,Janet A. Buchanan,Danuta Markiewicz,Tara K. Cox,Aravinda Chakravarti,Manuel Buchwald,Lap-Chee Tsui +7 more
TL;DR: Extended haplotype data based on DNA markers closely linked to the putative disease gene locus suggest that the remainder of the cystic fibrosis mutant gene pool consists of multiple, different mutations.
Related Papers (5)
Mutation in the α-synuclein gene identified in families with Parkinson's disease
Mihael H. Polymeropoulos,Christian Lavedan,Elisabeth Leroy,Susan E. Ide,Anindya Dehejia,Amalia Dutra,Brian L. Pike,Holly Root,Jeffrey Rubenstein,Rebecca Boyer,Edward S. Stenroos,Settara C. Chandrasekharappa,Aglaia Athanassiadou,Theodore Papapetropoulos,William G. Johnson,Alice Lazzarini,Roger C. Duvoisin,Giuseppe Di Iorio,Lawrence I. Golbe,Robert L. Nussbaum +19 more