TARDBP and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: This discovery helped establish these diseases as spectrum disorders (Mackenzie, 2007), it led to the identification of TDP-43 mutations that are causative for ALS and FTD (Sreedharan et al., 2008) and established a role for RNA metabolism in ALS/FTD pathogenesis (Lagier-Tourenne and Cleveland, 2009; Mackenzie et al., 2010).