DYT1 primary torsion dystonia is an autosomal dominant movement disorder due to a 3-bp GAG deletion in the TOR1A gene, which becomes manifest in only 30-40% of mutation carriers. Investigating the factors regulating this reduced penetrance might add new insight into the mechanisms underlying the disease. The pathophysiology of dystonia has been related to basal ganglia dysfunctions that lead to...

Lack of a preclinical model of primary dystonia that exhibits dystonic-like twisting movements has stymied identification of the cellular and molecular underpinnings of the disease. The classical familial form of primary dystonia is caused by the DYT1 (ΔE) mutation in TOR1A, which encodes torsinA, AAA⁺ ATPase resident in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticular/nuclear envelope. Here, we found th...

BACKGROUND Prior studies suggest that dystonia is comorbid with affective disorders. This comorbidity could be a reaction to a chronic debilitating disorder or expression of a predisposing gene. The authors took advantage of the identification of a gene for dystonia, DYT1, to test these alternative explanations. METHODS The authors administered a standardized psychiatric interview to members ...

An enigmatic feature of many genetic diseases is that mutations in widely expressed genes cause tissue-specific illness. One example is DYT1 dystonia, a neurodevelopmental disease caused by an in-frame deletion (Deltagag) in the gene encoding torsinA. Here we show that neurons from both torsinA null (Tor1a(-/-)) and homozygous disease mutant "knockin" mice (Tor1a(Deltagag/Deltagag)) contain sev...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of DYT1 mutation in Iranian patients affected with primary dystonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, we investigated 60 patients with primary dystonia who referred to the Tehran Medical Genetics Laboratory (TMGL) to determine the deletional mutation of 904-906 del GAG in the DYT1 gene. DNA extracted from patients' peripheral blood was subjected to PCR...

OBJECTIVE The only known genetic cause of early-onset primary torsion dystonia is the GAG deletion in the DYT1 gene. Due to the reduced penetrance, many mutation carriers remain clinically asymptomatic, despite the presence of subclinical abnormalities, mainly in the motor control circuitry. Our aim was to investigate whether the DYT1 mutation impairs the inner simulation of movements, a fundam...

It has been difficult to link synaptic modification to overt behavioral changes. Rodent models of DYT1 dystonia, a motor disorder caused by a single gene mutation, demonstrate increased long-term potentiation and decreased long-term depression in corticostriatal synapses. Computationally, such asymmetric learning predicts risk taking in probabilistic tasks. Here we demonstrate abnormal risk tak...

after parkinsonism, dystonia is the movement disorder most commonly encountered in movement disorder clinics. it is defined as a syndrome of sustained muscle contractions, frequently causing twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. dystonia is classified in three ways: age at onset, body distribution of abnormal movements, and etiology. the etiologic classification identifies fou...

The factors that determine symptom penetrance in inherited disease are poorly understood. Increasingly, magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and PET are used to separate alterations in brain structure and function that are linked to disease symptomatology from those linked to gene carrier status. One example is DYT1 dystonia, a dominantly inherited movement disorder characterized b...

DYT1 early-onset generalized torsion dystonia (DYT1 dystonia) is an inherited movement disorder caused by mutations in one allele of DYT1 (TOR1A), coding for torsinA. The most common mutation is a trinucleotide deletion (ΔGAG), which causes a deletion of a glutamic acid residue (ΔE) in the C-terminal region of torsinA. Although recent studies using cultured cells suggest that torsinA contribute...