Mitochondrial DNA variant associated with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy and high-altitude Tibetans.

The distinction between mild pathogenic mtDNA mutations and population polymorphisms can be ambiguous because both are homoplasmic, alter conserved functions, and correlate with disease. One possible explanation for this ambiguity is that the same variant may have different consequences in different contexts. The NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) nucleotide 3394 T > C (Y30H) variant is such a case. This variant has been associated with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy and it reduces complex I activity and cellular respiration between 7% and 28% on the Asian B4c and F1 haplogroup backgrounds. However, complex I activity between B4c and F1 mtDNAs, which harbor the common 3394T allele, can also differ by 30%. In Asia, the 3394C variant is most commonly associated with the M9 haplogroup, which is rare at low elevations but increases in frequency with elevation to an average of 25% of the Tibetan mtDNAs (odds ratio = 23.7). In high-altitude Tibetan and Indian populations, the 3394C variant occurs on five different macrohaplogroup M haplogroup backgrounds and is enriched on the M9 background in Tibet and the C4a4 background on the Indian Deccan Plateau (odds ratio = 21.9). When present on the M9 background, the 3394C variant is associated with a complex I activity that is equal to or higher than that of the 3394T variant on the B4c and F1 backgrounds. Hence, the 3394C variant can either be deleterious or beneficial depending on its haplogroup and environmental context. Thus, this mtDNA variant fulfills the criteria for a common variant that predisposes to a "complex" disease.

[Identification of mitochondrial DNA ND1 T3866C mutation in three ethnic Han Chinese families affected with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy].

OBJECTIVE: To report on the clinical, genetic and molecular characteristics of three ethnic Han Chinese families affected with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). METHODS: The three families were all diagnosed with LHON. Ophthalmologic examinations were conducted on the probands . The ND1, ND4 and ND6 genes of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were amplified with PCR respectively for the screening of three primary mutations G3460A, G11778A and T14484C. The entire mtDNA of the probands were also amplified by PCR. RESULTS: Analysis of mtDNA in the three pedigrees has failed to find the presence of the three LHON associated mutations but presence of a homoplastic ND1 T3866C mutation in all probands and their matrilineal relatives . The probands had different levels of visual impairment. The penetrance in the three families has been calculated as 12.5%, 11.1% and 33.3%, respectively. The T3866C mutation has resulted in replacement of isoleucine at position 187 with theronine. The isoleucine at position 187 is located at one of the transmembrane domains of ND1 polypeptide. CONCLUSION: Above results have suggested that the ND1 T3866C mutation might have been involved in the pathogenesis of LHON in the three Chinese families studied.

Point mutations associated with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy in a Latvian population.

PURPOSE: To study mutations associated with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) in patients suspected of having this mitochondrial disorder in a Latvian population. Additional aims were to determine the heteroplasmy status of all non-synonymous polymorphisms identified in the current study and to identify the mitochondrial haplogroups of the studied participants because these factors may contribute to the manifestation of LHON. METHODS: Twelve patients, including patients in two families, were enrolled in the current study. LHON was suspected based on the findings of ophthalmologic examinations. In clinically affected individuals, the presence of all previously reported LHON-associated mutations was assessed with sequencing analysis. Additionally, the SURVEYOR endonuclease assay was used to detect heteroplasmy. The mitochondrial haplogroups were identified with restriction analysis and the sequencing of hypervariable segment 1. RESULTS: In one family (mother and son), there was one primary LHON-associated mutation, G11778A. In addition, one rare previously reported LHON-associated polymorphism, A13637G, was detected in two unrelated patients. A non-synonymous polymorphism at T6253C was found in one individual. This mutation was reported in the background of the 3460 mutation among LHON patients in a Chinese population. No non-synonymous point mutations in mitochondrial DNA were found in five of the study participants. CONCLUSIONS: Molecular analysis of 12 patients with suspected LHON confirmed the diagnosis in four patients and allowed the use of appropriate prophylactic measures and treatment. Further investigations and additional studies of different populations are necessary to confirm the role of the non-synonymous polymorphisms A13637G and T6253C in the manifestation of LHON and the associations of these polymorphisms with mitochondrial haplogroups and heteroplasmy.

Mitochondrial DNA mutation m.10680G > A is associated with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy in Chinese patients.

BACKGROUND: Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a mitochondrial disorder with gender biased and incomplete penetrance. The majority of LHON patients are caused by one of the three primary mutations (m.3460G > A, m.11778G > A and m.14484T > C). Rare pathogenic mutations have been occasionally reported in LHON patients. METHODS: We screened mutation m.10680G > A in the MT-ND4L gene in 774 Chinese patients with clinical features of LHON but lacked the three primary mutations by using allele specific PCR (AS-PCR). Patients with m.10680G > A were further determined entire mtDNA genome sequence. RESULTS: The optimal AS-PCR could detect as low as 10% heteroplasmy of mutation m.10680G > A. Two patients (Le1263 and Le1330) were identified to harbor m.10680G > A. Analysis of the complete mtDNA sequences of the probands suggested that they belonged to haplogroups B4a1 and D6a1. There was no other potentially pathogenic mutation, except for a few private yet reported variants in the MT-ND1 and MT-ND5 genes, in the two lineages. A search in reported mtDNA genome data set (n = 9277; excluding Chinese LHON patients) identified no individual with m.10680G > A. Frequency of m.10680G > A in Chinese LHON patients analyzed in this study and our previous studies (3/784) was significantly higher than that of the general populations (0/9277) (P = 0.0005). CONCLUSION: Taken together, we speculated that m.10680G > A may be a rare pathogenic mutation for LHON in Chinese. This mutation should be included in future clinical diagnosis.

No association between the SNPs (rs3749446 and rs1402000) in the PARL gene and LHON in Chinese patients with m.11778G>A.

According to a recent genome-wide linkage scan and association study of families with m.11778G>A in Thailand, two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs3749446 and rs1402000) in the presenilins-associated rhomboid-like (PARL) gene were found to be associated with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). In order to verify this association in Chinese LHON patients, we genotyped three PARL gene variants (rs3749446, rs953419, and rs1402000) in 179 patients with m.11778G>A and 170 patients with suspected LHON, and compared them to a control population containing the HapMap Chinese and 58 normal individuals analyzed in this study. We identified no association between these PARL gene SNPs and LHON in Chinese patients with m.11778G>A (P>0.05). Haplotype analysis also showed no statistical difference among the three Chinese populations.

Strikingly different penetrance of LHON in two Chinese families with primary mutation G11778A is independent of mtDNA haplogroup background and secondary mutation G13708A.

The penetrance of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) in families with primary mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations is very complex. Matrilineal and nuclear genetic background, as well as environmental factors, have been reported to be involved in different affected pedigrees. Here we describe two large Chinese families that show a striking difference in the penetrance of LHON, in which 53.3% and 15.0% of members were affected (P<0.02), respectively. Analysis of the complete mtDNA genome of the two families revealed the presence of the primary mutation G11778A and several other variants suggesting the same haplogroup status G2a. The family with higher penetrance contained a previously described secondary mutation G13708A, which presents a polymorphism in normal Chinese samples and does not affect in vivo mitochondrial oxidative metabolism as described in a previous study. Evolutionary analysis failed to indicate any putatively pathogenic mutation that cosegregated with G11778A in these two pedigrees. Our results suggest that the variable penetrance of LHON in the two Chinese families is independent of both their mtDNA haplotype background and a secondary mutation G13708A. As a result, it is likely that unknown nuclear gene involvement and/or other factors contribute to the strikingly different penetrance of LHON.

Chromatic and luminance contrast sensitivities in asymptomatic carriers from a large Brazilian pedigree of 11778 Leber hereditary optic neuropathy.

PURPOSE: To determine whether asymptomatic 11778 LHON carriers demonstrated impairments in (1) chromatic red/green (R/G) and blue/yellow (B/Y) contrast sensitivity functions (CSF) and in (2) luminance contrast sensitivity functions in the spatial CSF (SCSF) and temporal CSF (TCSF) domains. METHODS: Twenty-five carriers (8 male, 17 female; 34.1 +/- 15.1 years of age) of homoplasmic 11778 LHON from the same well-described family and 30 age-matched controls (17 male, 13 female; 29.2 +/- 7.1 years of age) were tested in one eye, randomly selected. Of the 25 eyes tested, 18 had normal fundus, 5 had swelling and microangiopathy, and 2 had temporal pallor. The R/G and B/Y CSFs were obtained after equiluminance correction with bichromatic horizontal sinusoidal gratings at 0.3, 0.7, and 2 cycles per degree (cpd); the SCSFs were obtained with achromatic gratings at 0.3, 2, 6, and 12 cpd; and the TCSFs were obtained at 2, 10, 20, and 33 Hz with sinusoidal modulation of a 2.7 degrees field with a superimposed spatial Gabor function. RESULTS: Differences between carriers and controls were statistically significant for all spatial frequencies of chromatic and luminance SCSFs, but not for the TCSFs. R/G equiluminance settings of carriers differed from those of controls (P < 0.001), requiring higher luminance in the green; B/Y equiluminance settings were not statistically different in carriers and controls. Fundus findings did not correlate with CS results. CONCLUSIONS: Luminance and chromatic spatial CS losses that affected all tested spatial frequencies, are reported in LHON asymptomatic carriers with the mtDNA 11778 mutation. No losses were found in the temporal CSF. An intriguing finding is that the blue system is substantially spared in this LHON family. These represent subclinical visual impairments in otherwise asymptomatic LHON carriers.

[Study on five point mutations in mitochondrial DNA in patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between the primary mutation at np11778 and the secondary mutations at np9804, np13708, np13730, np15257 in three Chinese pedigrees with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and to detect the effects of the mutations on LHON. METHODS: Thirty-seven maternal individuals from three LHON pedigrees and forty-seven normal controls were involved in this study. Polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and DNA sequencing were used to detect the mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). RESULTS: All patients and their maternal relatives had the np11778 mtDNA primary mutation. None had the secondary mutations at np9804, np13708 and np13730 and np15257. DNA sequencing of the PCR fragment revealed six new point mutations at np13759, np13928, np13942, np15301, np15323 and np15326. CONCLUSION: All three Chinese pedigrees with LHON had the mtDNA11778 primary mutation. The frequency of mutation at np13759 in Chinese patients with LHON is higher than that in normal Chinese controls. These findings indicate that np13759 is a new secondary mutation of LHON in Chinese.

[Clinical features and the mutation of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy in Chinese patients].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the mutation of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and the clinical features in Chinese patients. METHODS: The primary mtDNA mutations (3460A, 11778A and 14484C) of 156 patients (110 probands and 46 maternal relatives with LHON) were detected by mutation-specific priming polymerase chain reaction, heteroduplex-single strand conformation polymorphism polymerase chain reaction, restriction fragment length polymorphisms and measurement of DNA sequence. The clinical features were analyzed by retrospective study. RESULTS: The 11778A mutation was found in 100 probands (90.9%), the 3460A mutation was found in 2 (1.8%), and the 14484C was found in 8 (7.3%) of the 110 probands. The visual acuity at onset of the disease was 0.01 or worse in 44 (17.6%) of 250 eyes with the 11778A mutation, but in none of 79 eyes with the 14484C mutation. The visual acuity was 0.1 or better in 76 (29.6%) of 250 eyes with the 11778A mutation, but in 49 (87.3%) of 56 eyes with the 14484C mutation. And 6.8% of 250 eyes with the 11778A mutation recovered a mean final visual acuity of 0.03, whereas 50% of 56 eyes with the 14484C mutation recovered a mean final visual acuity of 0.8. CONCLUSION: In Chinese LHON patients the 11778A, 14484C primary mutations are common. The clinical features are associated with the site of primary mutation. The visual acuity at onset of the disease and the visual recovery of the eyes with 14484C mutation were better than the eyes with the 11778A mutation.

Prevalence of Mitochondrial ND4 Mutations in 1281 Han Chinese Subjects With Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy.

PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence and spectrum of mitochondrial ND4 mutations in subjects with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). METHODS: A cohort of 1281 Chinese Han probands and 478 control subjects underwent clinical and genetic evaluation, and sequence analysis of mitochondrial (mt) DNA, as well as enzymatic assay of NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase. RESULTS: In this cohort, 503 probands had a family history of optic neuropathy and 778 subjects were sporadic cases. Mutational analysis of ND4 gene identified 149 (102 known and 47 novel) variants. The prevalence of known m.11778G>A mutation was 35.36%. Furthermore, we identified the known m.11696G>A and m.11253T>C mutations and five novel putative LHON-associated mutations. These mutations accounted for 2.74% of cases of LHON subjects. By enzymatic assay, we showed a mild decrease in the activity of NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase in mutant cell lines carrying only one putative mtDNA mutation. The low penetrance of optic neuropathy and mild biochemical defects in these pedigrees carrying only m.11696G>A mutation and one putative LHON-associated mutation suggested that the mutation(s) is(are) necessary but is(are) itself(themselves) insufficient to produce a visual failure. Moreover, mtDNAs in 169 probands carrying the LHON-associated mutation(s) were widely dispersed among 13 Eastern Asian haplogroups. In particular, the frequencies of haplogroups D, M8, M10, M11, and H in probands carrying the LHON-associated mtDNA mutation(s) were higher than those in Chinese controls. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that the ND4 gene is the hot spot for mutations associated with LHON. Thus, these findings may provide valuable information for the further understanding of pathogenic mechanism of LHON.

A novel mutation disrupting the cytoplasmic domain of CRB1 in a large consanguineous family of Palestinian origin affected with Leber congenital amaurosis.

Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive condition responsible for congenital blindness or greatly impaired vision since birth. Eight LCA loci have been mapped, but only six out of eight genes have been hitherto identified. A genome-wide screen for homozygosity was conducted in a large consanguineous family originating from Palestine, for which no mutation was found in any of the six known LCA genes and that excluded the LCA3 and LCA5 loci. Evidence for homozygosity, however, was found in all affected patients of the family on chromosome 1q31, a region in which the human homologue of the Drosophila melanogaster crumbs gene (CRB1) has been mapped. Consequently, we proposed a hypothesis that the disease-causing mutation in this family might lie in an unexplored region of this LCA gene. As a matter of fact, while no mutation was found in any of the 11 CRB1 exons originally reported, we identified a 10-bp (del 4121-4130) deletion segregating with the disease in a later reported 12th exon lying in the 3' end of the gene. Interestingly, this deletion disrupts an amino acid sequence that was shown to be crucial for the function of the protein in the Drosophila counterpart (CRB).

Leber's congenital amaurosis with anterior keratoconus in Pakistani families is caused by the Trp278X mutation in the AIPL1 gene on 17p.

BACKGROUND: Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA) represents the earliest and severest form of retinal dystrophy leading to congenital blindness. A total of 20% of children attending blind schools have this disease. LCA has a multigenic basis and is proving central to our understanding of the development of the retina. We describe the clinical and molecular genetic features of four inbred pedigrees from neighbouring remote villages in northern Pakistan, in which some of the affected members have concurrent keratoconus. METHODS: History-taking and physical and eye examinations were performed in the field. Venipuncture, DNA extraction, studies of linkage to known LCA genes, automated sequencing and polymorphism analyses for haplotype assessments were done. RESULTS: We examined 12 affected and 15 unaffected family members. By history, there were an additional nine blind people in the four pedigrees. In each pedigree a consanguineous marriage was evident. We found a homozygous nonsense mutation in the AIPL1 gene, which replaces a tryptophan with a stop codon (Trp278X). The phenotype is severe and variable, despite the common molecular genetic etiology in each family. Affected patients had hand motion to no light perception vision and fundus findings ranging from maculopathy to diffuse pigmentary retinopathy. Three affected members had definite keratoconus, and two were suspects based on mild cone formation in the cornea of at least one eye. INTERPRETATION: We have identified four Pakistani families with a severe form of LCA that is associated with severe keratoconus in some affected members. The molecular etiology in all four families is a homozygous nonsense mutation, Trp278X, in the photoreceptor-pineal gene AIPL1. To our knowledge, this is one of the first phenotype-genotype correlations of AIPL1-associated LCA.

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy--the spectrum of mitochondrial DNA mutations in Chinese patients.

PURPOSE: To investigate the spectrum of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in Chinese patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), optic atrophy of unknown etiology, and optic neuropathy of known etiology. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients from 25 LHON pedigrees, 22 patients with bilateral optic atrophy of unknown etiology, 21 patients with optic neuropathy of known etiology, and 25 normal healthy controls were included in this study. Twelve pairs of primers that covered the 21 reported mtDNA mutations were utilized. Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing were used to detect base substitutions in mtDNA. RESULTS: Twenty-three LHON pedigrees (92%) had the 11778 mtDNA primary mutation. Two pedigrees (8%) had the 14484 mutation. No 3460 mutations were detected in this group. Thirteen other sequence changes were found in these patients, but only the 4216 mutation had been reported previously. Thirteen pedigrees had multi-mutation patterns consisting of one primary mutation together with other sequence changes. No primary mutations were found in patients with optic atrophy of unknown etiology or in patients with optic neuropathy of known etiology. CONCLUSIONS: High frequency of 11778 mtDNA mutation was found in Chinese patients with LHON. No specific multi-mutation pattern such as the European mtDNA haplogroup J was found.

A very large Brazilian pedigree with 11778 Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

PURPOSE: We conducted extensive epidemiological, neuro-ophthalmological, psychophysical, and blood examinations on a newly discovered, very large pedigree with molecular analysis showing mtDNA mutation for Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). METHODS: Four patients representing four index cases from a remote area of Brazil were sent to Sao Paulo, where complete ophthalmological examinations strongly suggested LHON. Molecular analysis of their blood demonstrated that they were LHON, homoplasmic 11778, J-haplogroup. They had an extensive family that all lived in one rural area in Brazil. To investigate this family, we drew on a number of international experts to form a team that traveled to Brazil. This field team also included several members of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, and together we evaluated 273 of the 295 family members that were still alive. We conducted epidemiological interviews emphasizing possible environmental risk factors, comprehensive neuro-ophthalmological examinations, psychophysical tests, Humphrey visual field studies, fundus photography, and blood testing for both mitochondrial genetic analysis and nuclear gene linkage analysis. RESULTS: The person representing the first-generation case immigrated from Verona, Italy, to Colatina. Subsequent generations demonstrated penetrance rates of 71%, 60%, 34%, 15%, and 9%. The percentages of males were 60%, 50%, 64%, 100%, and 100%. Age at onset varied from 10 to 64 years, and current visual acuities varied from LP to 20/400. CONCLUSIONS: Almost 95% of a nearly 300-member pedigree with LHON 11778 were comprehensively studied. Analysis of environmental risk factors and a nuclear modifying factor from this group may help address the perplexing mystery of LHON: Why do only some of the genetically affected individuals manifest the disease? This fully described database may also provide an excellent opportunity for future clinical trials of any purported neuroprotective agent.

Haplogroup heterogeneity of LHON patients carrying the m.14484T>C mutation in India.

PURPOSE: To investigate the clinical and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup background of Indian Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) patients carrying the m.14484T>C mutation. METHODS: Detailed clinical investigation and complete mtDNA sequencing analysis was carried out for eight Indian LHON families with the m.14484T>C mutation. Haplogroup was constructed based on the evolutionarily important mtDNA variants. RESULTS: In the present study, we characterized eight unrelated probands selected from 187 LHON cases. The overall penetrance of the disease was estimated to be 19.75% (16/81) in eight pedigrees with the m.14484T>C mutation and showed substantially higher sex bias (male: female = 13:3). The mtDNA haplogrouping revealed that they belong to diverse haplogroups; i.e., F1c1, M31a, U2a, M*, I1, M6, M3a1, and R30a. Interestingly, we did not find an association of the m.14484T>C mutation with any specific haplogroup within the Indian population. We also did not find any secondary mutation(s) in these pedigrees, which might affect the clinical expression of LHON. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to earlier reports showing preferential association of the m.14484T>C mutation with western Eurasian haplogroup J and increased clinical penetrance when present in J1 subhaplogroup background, the present study shows that m.14484T>C arose independently in a different mtDNA haplogroup and ethnic background in India, which may influence the clinical expression of the disease.

Vision improvement in a Taiwanese (Han Chinese) family with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

In this report, we describe a Taiwanese (Han Chinese) family with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. The family carried a mitochondrial DNA mutation (mtDNA m.14484T>C) associated with spontaneous visual improvement. A 15-year-old boy from this family was diagnosed with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy 6 months after losing his vision. His vision recovered after 8 months of supportive treatment. His mother, older brother, and two sisters also had the same mutation and had previously experienced vision loss. In this family, there was no male predominance.

Mitochondrial haplogroup background may influence Southeast Asian G11778A Leber hereditary optic neuropathy.

PURPOSE: To investigate the role of mitochondrial DNA (mt DNA) background on the expression of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) in Southeast Asian carriers of the G11778A mutation. METHODS: Complete mtDNA sequences were analyzed from 53 unrelated Southeast Asian G11778A LHON pedigrees in Thailand and 105 normal Thai controls, and mtDNA haplogroups were determined. Clinical phenotypes were tested for association with mtDNA haplogroup, with adjustment for potential confounders such as sex and age at onset. RESULTS: mtDNA subhaplogroup B was significantly associated with LHON. Follow-up analysis narrowed the association down to subhaplogroup B5a1 (P = 0.008). Survival analyses with Cox's proportional hazards modeling on 469 samples (91 affected and 378 unaffected), adjusted for sex and heteroplasmy, revealed that haplogroup B5a1 tended to increase the risk of visual loss, but the trend was not statistically significant. Conversely, haplogroup F, the second most common haplogroup in the control population, was the least frequent haplogroup in LHON. This negative association was narrowed down to subhaplogroup F1 (P = 0.00043), suggesting that haplogroup F1 confers a protective effect. The distributions of sex, age at onset and heteroplasmy were not significantly different among haplogroups. CONCLUSIONS: The specific mtDNA background B5a1 was significantly associated with Southeast Asian G11778A LHON and appeared to modify the risk of visual loss.

The mitochondrial tRNA(Glu) A14693G mutation may influence the phenotypic manifestation of ND1 G3460A mutation in a Chinese family with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

We report here the clinical, genetic, and molecular characterization of one Han Chinese family with maternally transmitted Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). Three of seven matrilineal relatives in this family exhibited the variable degree of central vision loss at the age of 12, 14, and 16 years old, respectively. Sequence analysis of the complete mitochondrial DNA in this pedigree revealed the presence of the ND1 G3460A mutation and 47 other variants, belonging to the Asian haplogroup M7b2. The G3460A mutation is present at homoplasmy in matrilineal relatives of this Chinese family. Of other variants, the homoplasmic A14693G mutation is of special interest as it was implicated to be associated with other mitochondrial disorders. This mutation is located at the TpsiC-loop, at conventional position 54 of tRNA(Glu). The uridine at this position (U54), which is highly conserved from bacteria to human mitochondria, has been implicated to be important for tRNA structure and function. Thus, the A14693G mutation may alter the tertiary structure of this tRNA, cause a failure in this tRNA metabolism, thereby worsening the mitochondrial dysfunction associated with the primary G3460A mutation. Therefore, the tRNA(Glu) A14693G mutation may have a potential modifier role in the phenotypic manifestation of the primary LHON-associated G3460A mutation in this Chinese family.

Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distribution in pedigrees of Southeast Asian G11778A Leber hereditary optic neuropathy.

To investigate the association of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups and Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) in the Southeast Asian population, mtDNA haplogroup determination was performed by high-resolution restriction fragment length polymorphism in 42 patients with LHON who were carrying the G11778A mutation and in control subjects drawn from a Thai urban population unaffected by LHON. The patients with LHON were of Thai, Thai-Chinese, and Indian origin. Three mtDNA haplogroups, M, B*, and B, were found in LHON patients in a frequency similar to that in control subjects. mtDNA haplogroup F was found in none of the patients with LHON but was the second most common haplogroup in control subjects. The G11778A mutation must have arisen in our population independently from the mutation in Caucasians. In contrast to Caucasians, no specific mtDNA haplotype was associated with the patients with LHON in the Southeast Asian population. The mitochondrial polymorphisms that modify the expression of LHON in Southeast Asians could not be identified in this study. The lack of haplogroup F in our patients with LHON may indicate the protective effect of this haplogroup in the expression of this disorder.

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy mutations in Korean patients with multiple sclerosis.

Several different mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sites for mutations of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) have been reported to be present in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). To further study this association of LHON and MS in the Korean population, we tested 20 MS patients for the presence of mtDNA mutations at nucleotide (nt) 11778 in all 20 patients, and at nt 14484, nt 3460 and nt 15257 in 15, 12 and 12 patients, respectively. However, none of the MS patients exhibited any pathogenic LHON mtDNA mutations. In conclusion, we found no evidence for any association between MS and the LHON mutation in the Korean population.