New genetic insights highlight ‘old’ ideas on motor dysfunction in dystonia

Highlights • New genetic discoveries implicate dysfunction of signal transduction in primary dystonia. • The dystonia-associated signaling pathway is specifically important for striatal neurons. • This striatal signaling pathway is also abnormal in L-DOPA induced dyskinesias. • Defects in striatal signal transduction and coupling to molecular integrators of synaptic plasticity may be a common theme in hyperkinetic movement disorders.