Neurodegenerative disorders with high brain iron include Parkinson disease, 
Alzheimer disease and several childhood genetic disorders categorized as 
neuroaxonal dystrophies. We mapped a locus for infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy 
(INAD) and neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) to chromosome 
22q12-q13 and identified mutations in PLA2G6, encoding a calcium-independent 
group VI phospholipase A2, in NBIA, INAD and the related Karak syndrome. This 
discovery implicates phospholipases in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative 
disorders with iron dyshomeostasis.