PARKIN as a pathogenic gene for autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease with complex clin ical features. Recently, we idenfied a novel gene named Parkin to be respon sible for the pathogenesis of autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (AR -JP). Various mutations were found in AR-JP patients of Japanese and other ethnic origins, providing a definitive evidence for the Parkin to be a caus ative gene for AR-JP. The predicted structure of Parkin protein and its mut ation provide important clues for studying the functional role of the Parki n protein in leading to selective degeneration of nigral neurons in the bra ins of AR-JP patients.