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SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE · MED

Deciphering the role of a SINE-VNTR-Alu retrotransposon polymorphism as a biomarker of Parkinson's disease progression.

Sci Rep · 2024-05-13

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61753-5PMID: 38740892

Open accessresearch-article; Journal ArticleOriginal source ↗

Research overview

The text below is the source article’s original abstract under a verified reuse license. cc by

SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA) retrotransposons are transposable elements which represent a source of genetic variation. We previously demonstrated that the presence/absence of a human-specific SVA, termed SVA_67, correlated with the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). In the present study, we demonstrate that SVA_67 acts as expression quantitative trait loci, thereby exhibiting a strong regulatory effect across the genome using whole genome and transcriptomic data from the Parkinson's progression markers initiative cohort. We further show that SVA_67 is polymorphic for its variable number tandem repeat domain which correlates with both regulatory properties in a luciferase reporter gene assay in vitro and differential expression of multiple genes in vivo. Additionally, this variation's utility as a biomarker is reflected in a correlation with a number of PD progression markers. These experiments highlight the plethora of transcriptomic and phenotypic changes associated with SVA_67 polymorphism which should be considered when investigating the missing heritability of neurodegenerative diseases.

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