© 2004 Springer-Verlag
DJ-1 might have chaperone activity, which helps to refold proteins in the presence of oxidative stress and other cell stress contiditions. It may in fact sense oxidative signals via oxidation at cysteine 106. DJ-1 might influence stress response gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels by interacting with PIAS and other nuclear cofactors and with cytosolic RNA-binding protein complexes. Such complexes may also be associated with GAPDH, which has functional links to apoptosis and Parkinson disease. (Adapted from V. Bonifati et al.,
The discovery of several genes linked to Parkinson disease (PD) in recent years has spawned extensive research efforts to elucidate the underlying mechanism of this prevalent neurological disorder. This issue's Hot Paper focuses on the discovery of a third gene, DJ-1, which is mutated in a small subset of patients with PD.1 Neurologist and geneticist Vincenzo Bonifati, along with molecular ...
