A new genetic variant has been implicated in risk of restless legs syndrome, according to a study published online this week in Nature Genetics.

Restless legs syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by pain in the lower limbs and the frequent urge to move, which leads to sleep disturbance. Juliane Winkelmann and colleagues show that a variant in the gene PTPRD is associated with increased risk of the disorder in several populations of affected individuals. PTPRD encodes one of a family of enzymes called protein tyrosine phosphatases, and this particular phosphatase has been shown in mice to function in the development of neurons that directly or indirectly control movement.