High conservation of VPS11 between species, the essential role VPS11 plays in the endosomal-autophagy-lysosomal pathways, and the impact of mutations in VPS11 leading to neurodegenerative diseases, provides strong support for the missense mutation identified in Rottweiler NAD to be causative for the disease and a potential candidate for unexplained forms of human NAD. The gene discussed is VPS11; the disease is neurodegenerative disease.