A better understanding of Huntington’s disease brings hope
Previous research seems to have misinterpreted what is going on
Huntington’s disease is horrible. It is also odd. Illnesses caused by inherited aberrant genes are mostly what geneticists call “recessive”, meaning someone must receive defective versions of the gene involved from both mother and father. Huntington’s, the symptoms of which start with involuntary jerking, mood swings and memory problems, and end with death, is “dominant”—meaning only one parent need be a carrier to pass it on.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Dancing with death”
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