Spinal muscular atrophy in Drosophila

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is the most commonly inherited form of motor neuronal disease in humans and a leading cause of infant mortality. SMA is characterized by a loss of motor neurons which lead to muscle degeneration, paralysis, and eventual death by respiratory failure. More than ninety-five percent of the children born with this disease die. One in forty people are carriers and one in six thousand live births is an SMA child. SMA is a result of a loss of a gene known as Survival of Motor Neurons (SMN).