Late onset Leigh syndrome and ataxia due to a T to C mutation at bp 9,185 of mitochondrial DNA.

A T-to-C missense mutation at nucleotide position 9,185 in the protein-coding ATP6 gene of the mitochondrial genome was present at high heteroplasmy in members of a Canadian family with Leigh syndrome with predominant ataxia and peripheral neuropathy. This mutation results in the substitution of a proline residue for an evolutionary-conserved leucine at position of amino acid 220 near the carboxyl terminus of the mitochondrial protein. The index patient and brother, who had an identical clinical presentation, had >90% mutant mtDNA in cultured skin fibroblasts, lymphocytes, and whole blood.