{"id":780,"date":"2015-07-16T18:30:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T18:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/?p=780"},"modified":"2026-02-25T01:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T01:02:02","slug":"mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/07\/16\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Mutations in COQ4, an Essential Component of Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis, Cause Lethal Neonatal Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy (Contributed by Marwan Shinawi, M.D.)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coenzyme Q<sub>10<\/sub> is an essential cofactor for mitochondrial function and other biochemical pathways. Mutations in genes involved in CoQ<sub>10<\/sub> biosynthesis cause primary CoQ<sub>10<\/sub> deficiency syndromes that can be treated with oral ubiquinone. We used exome sequencing to evaluate 6 patients with clinical findings suggestive of a mitochondrial disorder. All patients were female and presented on the first day of life and died in the neonatal period or early infancy. Other clinical findings included hypotonia, encephalopathy, neonatal seizures, cerebellar atrophy, cardiomyopathy, and lactic acidosis. We identified recessive mutations in <em>COQ4<\/em> gene in all patients studied; one was a founder mutation in the Ashkenazi Jewish population (<a href=\"http:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2015\/07\/16\/jmedgenet-2015-103140\">http:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2015\/07\/16\/jmedgenet-2015-103140<\/a> ).<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coenzyme Q10 is an essential cofactor for mitochondrial function and other biochemical pathways. Mutations in genes involved in CoQ10 biosynthesis cause primary CoQ10 deficiency syndromes that can be treated with oral ubiquinone. We used exome sequencing to evaluate 6 patients with clinical findings suggestive of a mitochondrial disorder. All patients were female and presented on [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/07\/16\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mutations in COQ4, an Essential Component of Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis, Cause Lethal Neonatal Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy (Contributed by Marwan Shinawi, M.D.) - JMG Contact blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/07\/16\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mutations in COQ4, an Essential Component of Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis, Cause Lethal Neonatal Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy (Contributed by Marwan Shinawi, M.D.) - JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Coenzyme Q10 is an essential cofactor for mitochondrial function and other biochemical pathways. Mutations in genes involved in CoQ10 biosynthesis cause primary CoQ10 deficiency syndromes that can be treated with oral ubiquinone. We used exome sequencing to evaluate 6 patients with clinical findings suggestive of a mitochondrial disorder. All patients were female and presented on [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2015\/07\/16\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-16T18:30:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T01:02:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HuiQiQu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/16\\\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/16\\\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hqqu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be0250f8d5b52412c3e7c222dabd591b\"},\"headline\":\"Mutations in COQ4, an Essential Component of Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis, Cause Lethal Neonatal Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy (Contributed by Marwan Shinawi, M.D.)\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-16T18:30:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T01:02:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/16\\\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":132,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/16\\\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/16\\\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/16\\\/mutations-in-coq4-an-essential-component-of-coenzyme-q-biosynthesis-cause-lethal-neonatal-mitochondrial-encephalomyopathy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mutations in COQ4, an Essential Component of Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis, Cause Lethal Neonatal Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy (Contributed by Marwan Shinawi, M.D.) - 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