To study PD, researchers have used two basic types of animal models: (1) acute lesioning of DA neurons/tracts, either by surgery or toxic insult, and (2) genetic models that rely on expression of one of the rare, dominant, and highly penetrant mutations that cause PD or knockout of a similar, recessively inherited allele (e.g., α-synuclein, Parkin, and leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 [LRRK2]). This evidence concerns the gene PRKN and Parkinson disease.