Toxic and nutritional factors trigger Leber hereditary optic neuropathy due to a mitochondrial tRNA mutation.

Leber hereditary optic neuropathy is a mitochondrial disease mainly due to pathologic mutations in mitochondrial genes related to the respiratory complex I of the oxidative phosphorylation system. Genetic, physiological, and environmental factors modulate the penetrance of these mutations. We report two patients suffering from this disease and harboring a m.15950G > A mutation in the mitochondrial DNA-encoded gene for the threonine transfer RNA. We also provide evidences supporting the pathogenicity of this mutation.