Biotin-thiamine-responsive basal ganglia disease (BTBGD) may present in childhood, early infancy, or adulthood. The classic presentation of BTBGD occurs in childhood (age 3-10 years) and is characterized by recurrent subacute encephalopathy manifest as confusion, seizures, ataxia, dystonia, supranuclear facial palsy, external ophthalmoplegia, and/or dysphagia which, if left untreated, can eventually lead to coma and even death. Dystonia and cogwheel rigidity are nearly always present; hyperreflexia, ankle clonus, and Babinski responses are common. Hemiparesis or quadriparesis may be seen. Episodes are often triggered by febrile illness or mild trauma or stress. Simple partial or generalized seizures are easily controlled with anti-seizure medication. An early-infantile Leigh-like syndrome / atypical infantile spasms presentation occurs in the first three months of life with poor feeding, vomiting, acute encephalopathy, and severe lactic acidosis. An adult-onset Wernicke-like encephalopathy presentation is characterized by acute onset of status epilepticus, ataxia, nystagmus, diplopia, and ophthalmoplegia in the second decade of life. Prompt administration of biotin and thiamine early in the disease course results in partial or complete improvement within days in the childhood and adult presentations, but most with the infantile presentation have had poor outcome even after supplementation with biotin and thiamine.

KMT2B-related dystonia (DYT-KMT2B) is a complex childhood-onset (mean age 7 years) movement disorder described to date in 39 individuals. It is characterized by a progressive disease course evolving commonly from lower-limb focal dystonia into generalized dystonia with prominent cervical, cranial, and laryngeal involvement. Communication difficulties, secondary to articulation difficulties and low speech volume, are common. Bulbar dysfunction leads to impaired swallowing. Intellectual disability (ID) / developmental delay (DD) are commonly reported. Additional findings can include eye movement abnormalities, skin changes, psychiatric comorbidities (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder), myoclonus, seizures, spasticity, and sensorineural hearing loss. Many affected individuals follow a similar disease course, though milder and atypical findings have been described.

MECR-related neurologic disorder is characterized by a progressive childhood-onset movement disorder and optic atrophy; intellect is often – but not always – preserved. The movement disorder typically presents between ages one and 6.5 years and is mainly dystonia that can be accompanied by chorea and/or ataxia. Over time some affected individuals require assistive devices for mobility. Speech fluency and intelligibility are progressively impaired due to dysarthria. Optic atrophy typically develops between ages four and 12 years and manifests as reduced visual acuity, which can include functional blindness (also known as legal blindness) in adulthood. Because only 13 affected individuals are known to the authors, and because nearly half of them were diagnosed retrospectively as adults, the natural history of disease progression and other aspects of the phenotype have not yet been completely defined.

A rare genetic neurodegenerative disease with characteristics of sudden onset of progressive motor deterioration and regression of developmental milestones. Manifestations include dystonia and muscle spasms, dysphagia, dysarthria, and eventually loss of speech and ambulation. Brain MRI shows predominantly striatal abnormalities. The disease is potentially associated with a fatal outcome.

Dystonia-31 (DYT31) is an autosomal recessive progressive neurologic disorder characterized by involuntary muscle twisting movements and postural abnormalities affecting the upper and lower limbs, neck, face, and trunk. Some patients may have orofacial dyskinesia resulting in articulation and swallowing difficulties. The age at onset ranges from childhood to young adulthood. There are usually no additional neurologic symptoms, although late-onset parkinsonism was reported in 1 family (summary by Zech et al., 2022).

Nonphotosensitive trichothiodystrophy-8 (TTD8) is characterized by brittle hair and nails and scaly skin, accompanied by failure to thrive, microcephaly, and neuromotor developmental delay. Hair analysis shows low sulfur content, and skin fibroblasts demonstrate normal DNA repair efficiency after UV irradiation (Botta et al., 2021). For a general phenotypic description and discussion of genetic heterogeneity of trichothiodystrophy, see TTD1 (601675).

Autosomal recessive distal hereditary motor neuronopathy-6 (HMNR6) is a neuromuscular disorder characterized by onset of distal muscle weakness in early infancy. Affected individuals often present at birth with distal joint contractures or foot deformities and show delayed motor development, often with inability to walk or frequent falls. Hypo- or hyperreflexia may be observed; limb muscle atrophy may also be present. Patients often show respiratory distress or diaphragmatic palsy. Electrophysiologic studies are consistent with a peripheral motor neuropathy without sensory involvement (Maroofian et al., 2019). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of autosomal recessive distal HMN, see HMNR1 (604320).