Electrophoretic analysis of proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is one of the responsible gene products for familial Parkinson disease. Recent discoveries have elucidated that LRRK2 is involved in regulating intracellular vesicle trafficking by phosphorylating Rab GTPases. Based on the migration pattern on a blue-native PAGE gel, it has been believed that LRRK2 mainly exists as a dimer. However, I undertook a series of biochemical experiments using BN-PAGE as well as other methods and concluded that LRRK2 predominantly exists as a monomer. In this review, I summarized the biochemical analyses on the dimerization state of LRRK2 and its functional significance.