FUScinating insights into motor neuron degeneration

Point mutations in FUS cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating neurodegenerative disease—but do they do that by a loss of the protein's normal function, or by endowing it with novel toxic functions, or both? In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Scekic-Zahirovic et al (2016) report that mutant FUS, but not the complete loss of FUS, triggers motor neuron degeneration in mice, arguing for a toxic gain-of-function mechanism.
Source: EMBO Journal - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Molecular Biology of Disease, Neuroscience News [amp ] Views Source Type: research