It is argued that this rare disease, since the princeps description in 1964 only reported in England (1986) and the U.S.A (1986), is most likely a singular type of mitochondrial encephalopathy: it is associated with Leber's optic atrophy, and the NMR changes observed have been signalled in other mitochondrial encephalomyelopathies, such as Leigh's disease and MELAS.
Cytoplasmic transfer of the mtDNA nt 8993 T-->G (ATP6) point mutation associated with Leigh syndrome into mtDNA-less cells demonstrates cosegregation with a decrease in state III respiration and ADP/O ratio.
A mitochondrial DNA mutation at nucleotide pair 14459 of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 gene associated with maternally inherited Leber hereditary optic neuropathy and dystonia.
A 5-year-old child with clinical and radiologic evidence of Leigh syndrome (LS) showed a T-->C mutation at position nt 8993 in the mitochondrial DNA (instead of the more common T-->G substitution), resulting in an amino acid change from a highly conserved leucine to proline in subunit 6 of mitochondrial ATPase.
We report a new case of Leigh disease (subacute necrotizing encephalomyelopathy) in a girl with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation in the ATPase6 gene at nucleotide position 8993.
The mutation in the mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit 6 gene (ATP6T8993G) was identified in a male infant who died at age 15 months of Leigh syndrome.