Some cases of Parkinson disease in humans are postulated to be caused by a combination of genetic susceptibility and repeated exposure to toxins such as pesticides and herbicides.
A disease model has been created using targeted RNAi-mediated knockdown of the Drosophila park gene primarily in dopaminergic neurons, combined with exposure to the herbicide paraquat or paraquat combined with iron. The human ortholog of Dmel\park, PRKN, is implicated in Parkinson disease 2. This system has been used to assess the therapeutic value of melatonin to slow or prevent the progression of Parkinson disease.
An additional model uses flies expressing the human Hsap\SNCA gene (implicated in PD1) in combination with paraquat.
See the Human Disease Model reports 'Parkinson disease 2, early-onset' (FBhh0000008), 'Parkinson-like disease, toxin-induced' (FBhh0000187), Parkinson-like disease, metal toxicity (FBhh0000884), and Parkinson disease 1 (FBhh0000006).
See also FlyBase chemical reports for paraquat (FBch0000495), iron(2+) (FBch0000535), iron(2+) sulfate (FBch0000610), melatonin (FBch0000319).
[updated Mar. 2024 by FlyBase; FBrf0222196]
High-scoring ortholog of human PRKN (1 Drosophila to 1 human). Dmel\park shares 43% identity and 59% similarity with human PRKN.