To this end, we have identified an alternatively spliced variant of TDP-43 that is upregulated in ALS and has 91 bp spliced out in exon 2, generating a protein species of 35 kDa through use of a downstream start codon, ATGMet85, denoted here as Met85-TDP-35. This evidence concerns the gene TARDBP and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.