San Francisco - Google co-founder Sergey Brin has a genetic mutation that predisposes him to developing Parkinson's disease, he revealed in his blog. Brin, 35, discovered the gene mutation through a service offered by his wife's personal gene mapping company, 23andme.
Brin, whose fortune of almost 16 billion dollars makes him the 13th richest American, said that he does not have the disease and estimated that the presence of the genetic mutation exposed him to a risk of between 20 and 80 per cent of contracting Parkinson's.
Parkinson's is typically a late-onset disease that strikes people in their 50s or 60s and can include tremors, stiffness, speech impairment and slowness of movement.
Brin said that his mother, a scientist at NASA, carries the same mutation as he, and has Parkinson's. Brin has already established a