| abstract |
The invention relates to polynucleotides comprising polynucleotide sequences corresponding to the tor-1, tor-2, ooc-5, DYT1, and DYT2 genes and parts thereof that encode polypeptide sequences and parts thereof possessing varying degrees of torsin activity, and methods of screening and amplifying polynucleotides encoding polypeptide sequences which encode polypeptides having varying degrees of TOR-1, TOR2, OOC-5 TOR-A, and TOR-B activity. Further, the invention relates to methods of reducing protein aggregation, methods of treating diseases that are caused by protein aggregation, methods of screening potential protein-aggregation-reducing products, methods of screening potential therapeutics of diseases caused by protein aggregation, and pharmaceuticals, therapeutics, and kits comprising polynucleotide sequences corresponding to the tor-1, tor-2, ooc-5, DYT1, and DYT2 genes and/or polypeptides having torsin activity. |