Out-of-whack protein may boost P...(Americans currently have Parkinsons dise...),Health

We know of several enzymes that can cause phosphorylation in the proper position of the alpha-synuclein protein, said Oleg Gorbatyuk, Ph.D., an assistant professor of molecular genetics and microbiology. Increasing their expression in brains afflicted with Parkinsons disease could possibly provide a gene therapy approach to the disease.

In experiments described in the Jan. 15 issue of PNAS, UF researchers used gene transfer to enhance the production of three versions of alpha-synuclein in the substantia nigra region on one side of the rats brains. The other side was not treated, for comparison purposes.

Of the types of alpha-synuclein, the one that simulated phosphorylation at position 129 of the protein was nontoxic. But the other versions of the protein all caused significant loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra.

Adding a phosphate group is about the smallest thing that can possibly happen in biology, said Mark R. Cookson, an investigator in the Cell Biology and Gene Expression Unit of the National Institute on Aging who was not involved in the research. But this relatively minor, innocuous change can switch everything around from being a big problem to being no problem. This research really gives us an idea of some things going on in inherited cases of Parkinsons disease, and if we use that genetic information as a handle to get into the common disease, it is possible to take this from genetics to a drug discovery program.

'/>"/>