Molecular Epidemiology of Childhood Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathies in a Finnish Population: Sequence Analysis of Entire mtDNA of 17 Children Reveals Heteroplasmic Mutations in tRNAArg, tRNAGlu, and tRNALeu(UUR) Genes

Abstract excerpt

OBJECTIVES: Many heteroplasmic point mutations in tRNA genes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been associated with human diseases. We recently reported on a prospective 7-year study in which we enrolled 116 consecutive children with undefined encephalomyopathy. Seventeen of them were found to have both a defect in the mitochondrial respiratory chain and abnormal ultrastructure of muscle mitochondria, suggesting...