The neurological condition Dystonia is associated with sustained muscle contractions and abnormal posturing (1). TorsinA, torsinB, torp2A and torp3A belong to the family of ATPases associated with cellular activites (AAA+) and mutations in torsinA cause early onset dystonia (2). TorsinA has been shown to suppress intracellular protein aggregation in C. elegans and possesses chaperon activity. Interestingly, torsinA is highly expressed in dopaminergic neurons and associates with alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies, which pathologically characterize Parkinson's Disease (3-5).
