This is reminiscent of the non-cell autonomous toxicity mediated by mutant SOD1 in ALS pathogenesis (Ilieva et al., 2009) and can be tested in this set of transgenic mice by using tissue-specific Cre recombinase-mediated excision of the transgene in neurons or astrocytes (Lobsiger et al., 2009; Yamanaka et al., 2008; Boillée et al., 2006). This evidence concerns the gene SOD1 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.