Biallelic variants in two complex I genes cause abnormal splicing defects in probands with mild Leigh syndrome

Leigh syndrome is a genetically heterogeneous disorder resulting from deficient oxidative energy biogenesis. The syndrome is characterized by subacute episodic decompensations, transiently elevated lactate, and necrotizing brain lesions most often in the striatum and brainstem. Acute decompensation is often triggered by viral infections. Sequalae from repeated episodes leads to progressive neurological deterioration and death. The severity of Leigh syndrome varies widely, from a rapid demise in childhood to rare adult presentations. Although the causes of Leigh syndrome include genes affecting a variety of different pathways, more than 75 of them are nuclear or mitochondrial encoded genes involved in the assembly and catalytic activity of mitochondrial respiratory complex I. Here we report the detailed clinical and molecular phenotype of two adults with mild presentations of NDUFS3 and NDUFAF6-related Leigh Syndrome. Mitochondrial assays revealed slightly reduced complex I activity in one proband and normal complex I activity in the other. The proband with NDUFS3-related Leigh syndrome was mildly affected and lived into adulthood with novel biallelic variants causing aberrant mRNA splicing (NM_004551.2:c.419G > A; p.Arg140Gln; NM_004551.2:c.381 + 6 T > C). The proband with NDUFAF6-related Leigh syndrome had biallelic variants that cause defects in mRNA splicing (NM_152416.3:c.371 T > C; p.Ile124Thr; NM_152416.3:c.420 + 2_420 + 3insTA). The mild phenotypes of these two individuals may be attributed to some residual production of normal NDUFS3 and NDUFAF6 proteins by NDUFS3 and NDUFAF6 mRNA isoforms alongside mutant transcripts. Taken together, these cases reported herein suggest that splice-regulatory variants to complex I proteins could result in milder phenotypes.