Rare Mutation That Causes Mirror Movements

Summary: Andrée Marion is a 47 year-old accountant from Quebec. She has a rare defect that causes mirror movements, which are involuntary motions on one side of her body that mirror the voluntary movements from the other. Side. For example, when she brushes her hair or reaches for change in her pocket with her right hand, her left hand does exactly the same movements. It can’t be controlled. Her son has the same defect, half of her relatives from 4 generations have the same mirror movements. She seems to have a rare disorder of nervous system crossing. This mutation is caused by a faulty gen, deleted in colorectal cancer, it interferes with the interaction with netrin, this protein helps guide axons across the body’s midline during development. In Marion’s case, the mirror movements are in most of her body. She can type, drive and do most things without difficulty.

Analysis: It is discovery based science because it was discovered in a human, not only made into a hypothesis. The discovery was observed and the data was analyzed to see what kinds of patterns could be found. The discovery was very important for humans because it helped find the reason for the rare mutation. It also gave an insight to what it can cause and what it is caused by.

Moisse, Katie. "Rare Mutation That Causes Mirror Movements Reflects Nervous System's Complexity: Scientific American." Science News, Articles and Information | Scientific American. Web. 08 Feb. 2012. .

-Zoe McCloskey