Gene Analysis of Parkinson's Disease

Mutational analysis in patients with Parkinson's disease and a positive family history will be undertaken in an effort to identify and better understand the function of defective genes that cause Parkinson's disease in these individuals. DNA from these individuals is an important resource for screening candidate genes for mutations, for confirming that genes identified by other approaches are altered in patients, and for defining the mutational spectrum in these genes (genotype/phenotype correlation). Unrelated, anonymous normal individuals will serve as controls for sequence comparisons. Information about genotypes will not be communicated back to the individuals as part of this study. While mutational analysis will continue, no further participants will be recruited to this study.