Progressive supranuclear gaze palsy is in linkage disequilibrium with the tau and not the alpha-synuclein gene

We studied two candidate genes, tau (τ) and α-synuclein (SNCA), for evidence of linkage disequilibrium on a group of unrelated individuals with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and a group of age-matched control subjects. The τ a1 allele and the τ a1a1 genotype were overrepresented in individuals with PSP and the τ polymorphism was in linkage disequilibrium with the PSP disease locus when a recessive inheritance model was employed. We also report a lack of evidence to support linkage disequilibrium between PSP and the SNCA candidate Parkinson's disease gene on chromosome 4q21-q23.