TBP and spinocerebellar ataxia type 17: Importantly, a study that sought to model the human neurological disorder SCA17 in Drosophila showed evidence that TBP is required for normal brain function, as removal of one copy of Tbp recapitulates some features of SCA17, such as impaired motility and age-dependent accumulation of vacuoles in the brain (Hsu et al., 2014).