The main question of this article is: “What are the evolutionary features of human neurodegenerative disease genes with respect to non-disease genes?” Through analysis of gene expression level, number of regulatory miRNAs, protein connectivity, intrinsic disorder content, and relative aggregation propensity, Panda et al. observed that human neurodegenerative disease genes are evolutionary conserved relative to non-disease genes. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS v.13. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the average values of different variables between two classes of genes. For correlation analysis, the Spearman’s Rank correlation co- efficient was performed. They also observed that human neurodegenerative disease genes have higher number of different regulatory miRNAs target sites and also have higher interaction partners than the non-disease genes. Overall, results showing higher gene expression level, higher protein connectivity along with greater miRNA regulation of neurodegenerative disease genes compared to non-disease genes support the conserved nature of neurodegenerative disease genes. In particular, highest (P=0.0001) expression of neurodegenerative disease genes were found near nervous system related tissues. In addition, it was found that non-disease genes on average show uniform gene expression level within the range of 25–60 whereas, for neurodegenerative disease genes the inhomogeneous expression level often fluctuates within the range of 25–150. Not only have the evolutionary features of human neurological disorders have been identified, but the complicated relationships between protein disorder content and RAP have been clarified. An implication of this study is that these results can be used in order to diagnose, prevent, and treat neurological disorders.

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