Geneva: Researchers from the University of Geneva have discovered a crucial protein that protects flies and mice from Parkinson's disease and could be a potential treatment target. The results of the study were published in the journal 'Nature Communication.'

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative ailment in which a specific type of neuron, the dopaminergic neuron, is destroyed. Using the fruit fly as a study model, a group looked into the destruction of these dopaminergic neurons. The researchers discovered a crucial protein in flies and mice that protects against the disease and could be used as a novel therapeutic target.

Except in rare cases involving a single gene, most Parkinson's cases are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. However, mitochondrial failure in dopaminergic neurons is a frequent feature of the disease's beginning. When a cell is injured, these little factories within it are responsible for energy generation as well as initiating the cell's self-destruct mechanisms.

The fruit fly, or Drosophila, is used in the laboratory of Emi Nagoshi, Professor in the Department of Genetics and Evolution at the UNIGE Faculty of Science, to explore the causes of dopaminergic neuron degeneration. Her research group is particularly interested in the Fer2 gene, whose human equivalent encodes a protein that regulates the expression of many other genes and whose mutation may cause Parkinson's disease through unknown pathways.

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