Patients with global developmental delay, progressive ataxia, and elevated glutamine (GDPAG) present in early childhood with delay of both gross and fine motor skills and delayed speech. Ataxia develops by mid- to late childhood, necessitating use of a walker or wheelchair. Plasma glutamine is persistently elevated by a factor of 2.5 despite normal plasma ammonia levels. Residual glutaminase (GLS) activity can be detected in fibroblasts and lymphocytes. One or both alleles of the GLS gene carry an expanded GCA trinucleotide repeat in the 5-prime untranslated region (UTR); the repeat expansion may be found in compound heterozygosity with another GLS mutation. Three patients have been reported (summary by van Kuilenburg et al., 2019). [from
OMIM]