( rall picture we have now is that glutam...)Pinpointing the cause of a neurodegenerative disorder

The finding offers insight into the molecular mechanisms that cause SCA1, Huntington's disease and other glutamine repeat disorders, said Zoghbi. "It seems to be a recurring theme in neurodegenerative disorders that having extra copies of a normal protein, not just a mutated one, can cause pathology. There have been observations that having extra copies of the normal alpha synuclein protein that causes Parkinson's disease, or of the amyloid precursor protein that causes Alzheimer's disease, can cause pathology," she said. "So, this raises the question of whether mutations in the genes for these proteins enhance their normal action.

"Importantly, such insights can now guide studies that focus on the normal function and interactions of these proteins and how they might be enhanced by disease-causing mutations," said Zoghbi. "These studies could give better understanding of how the proteins cause disease."