(Medical Xpress) -- A protein essential for metabolism and recently associated with neurodegenerative diseases also occurs in several brain-specific forms. This discovery emerged in the course of a research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the findings of which have now been published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics. The scientists working on the project discovered a large new region in the genetic code of the protein PGC-1alpha. Previously unknown variations of the protein, which can be found specifically in the brain, are produced from this region. This discovery may provide tissue-specific starting points for the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
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