The substitution's evolutionary conservation and protein modeling provide additional support for pathogenicity as the amino acid perturbs the same amphipathic alpha helical structure as the previously described pathogenic mutations.

The identification of genetic causes for Mendelian disorders has been based on the collection of multi-incident families, linkage analysis, and sequencing of genes in candidate intervals. This study describes the application of next-generation sequencing technologies to a Swiss kindred presenting with autosomal-dominant, late-onset Parkinson disease (PD). The family has tremor-predominant dopa-responsive parkinsonism with a mean onset of 50.6 ± 7.3 years. Exome analysis suggests that an aspartic-acid-to-asparagine mutation within vacuolar protein sorting 35 (VPS35 c.1858G>A; p.Asp620Asn) is the genetic determinant of disease. VPS35 is a central component of the retromer cargo-recognition complex, is critical for endosome-trans-golgi trafficking and membrane-protein recycling, and is evolutionarily highly conserved. VPS35 c.1858G>A was found in all affected members of the Swiss kindred and in three more families and one patient with sporadic PD, but it was not observed in 3,309 controls. Further sequencing of familial affected probands revealed only one other missense variant, VPS35 c.946C>T; (p.Pro316Ser), in a pedigree with one unaffected and two affected carriers, and thus the pathogenicity of this mutation remains uncertain. Retromer-mediated sorting and transport is best characterized for acid hydrolase receptors. However, the complex has many types of cargo and is involved in a diverse array of biologic pathways from developmental Wnt signaling to lysosome biogenesis. Our study implicates disruption of VPS35 and retromer-mediated trans-membrane protein sorting, rescue, and recycling in the neurodegenerative process leading to PD.

Background Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is known to harbor highly penetrant mutations linked to familial parkinsonism. However, its full polymorphic variability in relationship to Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk has not been systematically assessed. Methods We examined the frequency pathogenicity of 121 exonic LRRK2 variants in three ethnic series (Caucasian [N=12,590], Asian [N=2,338] and Arab-Berber [N=612]) consisting of 8,611 patients and 6,929 control subjects from 23 separate sites of the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson’s Disease Consortium. Findings Excluding carriers of previously known pathogenic mutations, new independent risk associations were found for polymorphic variants in Caucasian (p.M1646T, OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.15 – 1.78, P=0.0012) and Asian (p.A419V, OR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.35 – 3.83, P=0.0011) populations. In addition, a protective haplotype was observed at >5% frequency (p.N551K-p.R1398H-p.K1423K) in the Caucasian and Asian series’, with a similar finding in the small Arab-Berber series that requires further study (combined 3-series OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.72 – 0.94, P=0.0043). Of the two previously reported Asian risk variants p.G2385R was found to be associated with disease (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.20 – 2.49, P=0.0026) but no association was observed for p.R1628P (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.36 – 1.07, P=0.087). Also in the Arab-Berber series, p.Y2189C showed potential evidence of risk association with PD (OR: 4.48, 95% CI: 1.33 – 15.09, P=0.012). Of note, two variants (p.I1371V and p.T2356I) which have been previously proposed as pathogenic were observed in patient and control subjects at the same frequency. Interpretation LRRK2 offers an example where multiple rare and common genetic variants in the same gene have independent effects on disease risk. Lrrk2, and the pathway in which it functions, is important in the etiology and pathogenesis of a greater proportion of patients with PD than previously believed. Funding The present study and original funding for the GEO-PD Consortium was supported by grants from Michael J. Fox Foundation. Studies at individual sites were supported by a number of funding agencies world-wide.

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A Saskatchewan multi-incident family was clinically characterized with Parkinson disease (PD) and Lewy body pathology. PD segregates as an autosomal-dominant trait, which could not be ascribed to any known mutation. DNA from three affected members was subjected to exome sequencing. Genome alignment, variant annotation and comparative analyses were used to identify shared coding mutations. Sanger sequencing was performed within the extended family and ethnically matched controls. Subsequent genotyping was performed in a multi-ethnic case–control series consisting of 2928 patients and 2676 control subjects from Canada, Norway, Taiwan, Tunisia, and the USA. A novel mutation in receptor-mediated endocytosis 8/RME-8 (DNAJC13 p.Asn855Ser) was found to segregate with disease. Screening of cases and controls identified four additional patients with the mutation, of which two had familial parkinsonism. All carriers shared an ancestral DNAJC13 p.Asn855Ser haplotype and claimed Dutch–German–Russian Mennonite heritage. DNAJC13 regulates the dynamics of clathrin coats on early endosomes. Cellular analysis shows that the mutation confers a toxic gain-of-function and impairs endosomal transport. DNAJC13 immunoreactivity was also noted within Lewy body inclusions. In late-onset disease which is most reminiscent of idiopathic PD subtle deficits in endosomal receptor-sorting/recycling are highlighted by the discovery of pathogenic mutations VPS35, LRRK2 and now DNAJC13. With this latest discovery, and from a neuronal perspective, a temporal and functional ecology is emerging that connects synaptic exo- and endocytosis, vesicular trafficking, endosomal recycling and the endo-lysosomal degradative pathway. Molecular deficits in these processes are genetically linked to the phenotypic spectrum of parkinsonism associated with Lewy body pathology.