A deletion mutant of a-synuclein (amino acids 96-140). Alpha-Synuclein (a-Synuclein) is a 14 kD (140 amino acids) acidic presynaptic protein. It is a major component of Parkinson"s disease aggregates and is implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson"s Disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. a-Synuclein accumulates in the brains of sporadic Parkinson"s disease patients as a major component of Lewy bodies, which are intraneuronal cytoplasmic inclusions characteristic of Parkinson"s disease. a-Synuclein appears to associate with other proteins that aggregate and is found in a-amyloid plaques and neuritic tangles in Alzheimer"s disease,6.