Gender gene implicated in Parkinson's disease.

摘要

The gene that makes embryos male has been found in the substantia riigra, a brain region that deteriorates in Parkinson's disease. The discovery throws up an unexpected role for the SRY gender gene in Parkinson's disease, and could explain why men are more likely than women to develop the disease.Eric Vilain (University of California, Los Angeles, USA) and colleagues studied the Sry protein in rodent brains. The sex-determining Sry gene, which is found on the Y chromosome, prompts embryos to become male and kick starts mammalian testes development. So Vilain's team were intrigued when they found the Sry protein in the substantia nigra of male rat brains (Current Biology 2006; 16: 415-20).