New Genetic Insights into Parkinson's Disease

Although Parkinson's disease was once considered a purely sporadic disease, recent advances in molecular genetics have revealed important genetic influences underlying the development of the disorder. Eight defined genetic loci are now associated with highly penetrant autosomal dominant or recessive Parkinson's disease (see Table).1,2 Causative mutations have been identified in five genes, and the ensuing molecular insights have led to substantial advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease and in experimental approaches to the study of the disorder.The first protein implicated in familial Parkinson's disease was α-synuclein, an abundant neuronal protein of unknown function. Although . . .