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The ubiquitin pathway in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Mutations of the α-synuclein gene1,2 have been identified in some familial forms of Parkinson's disease, and α-synuclein protein has been shown to accumulate in the brains of patients with the disease3. These findings suggest that Parkinson's disease may be caused by the abnormal aggregation of α-synuclein protein. Here we have identified in a German family with Parkinson's disease a missense mutation in the ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) gene. We show that this mutation, Ile93Met, causes a partial loss of the catalytic activity of this thiol protease, which could lead to aberrations in the proteolytic pathway and aggregation of proteins.

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Figure 1: DNA sequence of a portion of exon 4 of the UCH-L1 gene.
Figure 2: Mutation analysis for the Ile93Met mutation in kindred PDGE7.

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Leroy, E., Boyer, R., Auburger, G. et al. The ubiquitin pathway in Parkinson's disease. Nature 395, 451–452 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/26652

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