Mountain View: Google co-founder Sergey Brin has a gene mutation that increases his likelihood of contracting Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that can impair speech, movement and other functions, reported The New York Times.

Brin made the announcement on a blog saying that he does not have the disease though the exact implications of the discovery are not clear. Studies show that his likelihood of contracting Parkinson's disease in his lifetime may be 20 percent to 80 percent, Brin said.

Brin said he learned that he carries a mutation of the LRRK2 gene, known as G2019S. His mother, Eugenia Brin, also carries the gene mutation and has Parkinson's. Medical experts said that those who carry that gene mutation are more likely than not to live disease-free.

"Many people with this mutation never develop the disease," said Dr. Susan B. Bressman, chairwoman of the neurology department at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. "He is more likely to have a normal life than a Parkinson's disease life."

Dr. Bressman, who specializes in movement disorders and genetics, said that about 30 percent of people with the gene mutation develop the disease.

Brin said he discovered that he carried the gene mutation using a service from 23andMe, a biotechnology start-up co-founded by his wife, Anne Wojcicki. The company can map customers' DNA and help them find information about their ancestry and their risk of getting certain diseases. Google, where Brin is president of technology, invested $3.9 million in 23andMe in May 2007.

Brin, whose personal fortune was recently pegged at $15.9 billion by Forbes, ranking him as the 13th richest American, said that he may help provide more money for research into the disease.