A research team from the nation's leading science university has discovered the cause of the degenerative brain disease Parkinson's.

Led by professor Chung Jong-kyeong of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the team said Thursday that loss of function in the mutated key genes Parkin and PINK-One leads to shrinkage of dopaminergic brain cells that causes the disease.

Researchers experimented on fruit flies, and said their tests on human brain cells bore the same results.

The team said that in a year, it will develop a chemical alternative to the parkin gene that can alleviate symptoms of the disease.

Chung published the study on the online edition of the journal Nature and has applied for a domestic patent.