In a recent study researchers found out about this gene. Scientists know that faulty proteins can cause harmful deposits or aggregates in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Although the causes of these protein deposits remain a mystery it is known that abnormal aggregates can result when cells fail to transmit proper genetic information to proteins. Usually the information transfer from gene to protein is carefully controlled--biologically proofread and corrected--to avoid the production of improper proteins. Researchers found that the Ankrd16 gene rescued specific neurons--called Purkinje cells --that die when proofreading fails. Without normal levels of Ankrd16 these