The causative protein for EAOH/AOA1, aprataxin (APTX), interacts with X-ray repair cross-complementing 1 (XRCC1), a scaffold DNA repair protein for single-strand breaks (SSBs).
Aprataxin, defective in the neurodegenerative disorder ataxia oculomotor apraxia type 1 (AOA1), is a DNA repair protein that processes the product of abortive ligations, 5' adenylated DNA.