Caenorhabditis elegans in Parkinson’s Disease Drug Discovery: Addressing an Unmet Medical Need

Conservation of Parkinson’s disease–associated genes inC. elegans. Genes associated with PD are listed in the oval along with orthologs (italics) in C. elegans. (As indicated by the question mark, α-synuclein represents the only PD-associated gene that does not have a strong ortholog.) A dopamine neuron schematizes known and predicted genes involved in dopamine biosynthesis and metabolism Red circles represent dopamine; blue cylinders represent dopamine transporter; heptahelical structures represent pre- and postsynaptic dopamine receptors. Protein locations are putative. AAAD, aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase; MAO, monoamine oxidase; TH, tyrosine hydroxylase; VMAT [the activity of which is indicated by appearance of black circles (membranes of dopamine-containing synaptic vesicles)], vesicular monoamine transporter.