BECN1 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: To investigate the presence of Pacer mRNA in tissues relevant to ALS pathogenesis, we assessed Pacer, Rubicon and Beclin1 mRNA levels by quantitative PCR in different mouse tissues (cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, spinal cord, muscle, and liver) obtained from 100 days-old wild-type C57BL/6 mice (4 males and 4 females).