By adding helper proteins, the dopamine-producing neurons were no longer compromised. Chaperone proteins have also been found to protect against movement disorders: flies with a mutant SNCA gene are poor climbers, but when flies with the same mutation overexpress chaperone proteins they are able to climb normally. This technique also works in fruit fly models of other neurodegenerative diseases—of which there are many now—as well as in mouse models of some neurodegenerative diseases, illustrating once again the utility of animal models for the study of human disease.
