The identification of gene mutations causing disease lends new insight into the pathogenesis and etiology of the disorder under examination. The past year has been incredibly successful for the Laboratory of Neurogenetics in terms of disease gene identification. Our identification of mutation at ITPR1 as the cause of SCA15 was expanded upon by us and others, defining other families with ataxia and mutation at this locus, and the relevance of this work was further bolstered by the observation by others that SCA16, formerly thought to be distinct from SCA15 is actually allelic, something we predicted in our original cloning paper. Also in ataxia, we identified with our collaborators, the genetic mutation underlying SCA11, which turned out to be mutation of the gene TTBK2, implicated in the phosphorylation of microtubule protein tau, a protein central to several forms of neurodegenerative disease. Most recently our work describing the mutation underlying SCA20 has been accepted for publication; this work shows clearly that in the only family described to date, the disease is associated with a large genomic duplication.? In the field of parkinsonism and dystonia we made two findings, in the first we identified a novel locus for dystonia parkinsonism and describe a disease segregating mutation in the gene PRKRA; in the second we show that mutation in PLA2G6, previously associated with a distinct neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, can cause a form of dystonia parkinsonism.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Intramural Research (Z01)
Project #
1Z01AG000958-06
Application #
7732376
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$661,585
Indirect Cost
Name
National Institute on Aging
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
State
Country
United States
Zip Code
Hammer, Monia B; Ding, Jinhui; Mochel, Fanny et al. (2017) SLC25A46 Mutations Associated with Autosomal Recessive Cerebellar Ataxia in North African Families. Neurodegener Dis 17:208-212
Hernandez, Dena G; Reed, Xylena; Singleton, Andrew B (2016) Genetics in Parkinson disease: Mendelian versus non-Mendelian inheritance. J Neurochem 139 Suppl 1:59-74
Lesage, Suzanne; Drouet, Valérie; Majounie, Elisa et al. (2016) Loss of VPS13C Function in Autosomal-Recessive Parkinsonism Causes Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Increases PINK1/Parkin-Dependent Mitophagy. Am J Hum Genet 98:500-513
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Lesage, Suzanne; Bras, Jose; Cormier-Dequaire, Florence et al. (2015) Loss-of-function mutations in RAB39B are associated with typical early-onset Parkinson disease. Neurol Genet 1:e9
Xi, Zhengrui; Yunusova, Yana; van Blitterswijk, Marka et al. (2014) Identical twins with the C9orf72 repeat expansion are discordant for ALS. Neurology 83:1476-8
Siitonen, A; Majounie, E; Federoff, M et al. (2013) Mutations in EIF4G1 are not a common cause of Parkinson's disease. Eur J Neurol 20:e59
Paisán-Ruiz, Coro; Lewis, Patrick A; Singleton, Andrew B (2013) LRRK2: cause, risk, and mechanism. J Parkinsons Dis 3:85-103

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