DJ-1 mutations are a very rare cause of recessive parkinsonism and appear to act in a parallel manner to two more common genes, PINK1 and parkin, to influence mitochondrial function. Specifically, DJ-1 is thought to play a role in oxidative stress as it is known to have a highly reactive cysteine residue. Understanding the function of DJ-1 has been hampered by the fact that there are no animal models that have clear phenotypes. To address this, we are currently crossing DJ-1 deficient animals with accelerated aging models. This will test the hypothesis, in vivo, that DJ-1 sensitizes the brain to chronic oxidative stress, which is a correlate of aging. While generating these animals we have also performed several large scale experiments to characterize the molecular events occurring in the brains of both DJ-1 deficient and accelerated aging mice. Preliminary results suggest that there are changes to both bioenergetics in both lines, suggesting that it will be interesting to examine the results of crosses between the two.
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