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FRUIT FLIES UNLOCKING HUNTINGTON’S SECRETS
Why in the News?
- A recent study, featured in Scientific Reports, charts significant progress in Huntington’s disease using an unlikely ally: the fruit fly.
Source: HealthDirect
Source: HealthDirectAbout the Study
- Huntington’s patients carry a mutated HTT gene, coding for huntingtin (Htt), a vital protein for nerve cell functioning.
- Researchers engineered fruit flies to express mutated HTT gene’s polyglutamine tract.
- Fruit flies with extended tracts displayed Huntington’s-like symptoms, while those with normal tracts were unaffected.
- Mutation results in an abnormal Htt protein, causing neuron destruction and disease progression.
About Huntington’s disease :
- Definition :Huntington’s disease is a progressive genetic disorder affecting the brain, leading to various debilitating symptoms.
- Symptoms and Genetic Involvement:
- Uncontrolled movements, impaired coordination, cognitive decline, concentration difficulties, memory lapses, mood swings, and personality changes are common symptoms.
- HTT genes provide instructions for making the huntingtin protein; mutated genes lead to faulty instructions and the production of abnormal proteins, forming disruptive clumps.
- Neuronal Impact :Clumps disrupt normal brain cell functioning, causing neuronal death and resulting in Huntington disease.
- Cure: Currently, there is no cure, but symptom management is possible through drugs, physiotherapy, and talk therapy.
