Angelman syndrome (AS) is characterized by severe developmental delay or intellectual disability, severe speech impairment, gait ataxia and/or tremulousness of the limbs, and unique behavior with an apparent happy demeanor that includes frequent laughing, smiling, and excitability. Microcephaly and seizures are also common. Developmental delays are first noted at around age six months; however, the unique clinical features of AS do not become manifest until after age one year.

POLG-related disorders comprise a continuum of overlapping phenotypes that were clinically defined long before their molecular basis was known. Most affected individuals have some, but not all, of the features of a given phenotype; nonetheless, the following nomenclature can assist the clinician in diagnosis and management. Onset of the POLG-related disorders ranges from infancy to late adulthood. Alpers-Huttenlocher syndrome (AHS), one of the most severe phenotypes, is characterized by childhood-onset progressive and ultimately severe encephalopathy with intractable epilepsy and hepatic failure. Childhood myocerebrohepatopathy spectrum (MCHS) presents between the first few months of life and about age three years with developmental delay or dementia, lactic acidosis, and a myopathy with failure to thrive. Other findings can include liver failure, renal tubular acidosis, pancreatitis, cyclic vomiting, and hearing loss. Myoclonic epilepsy myopathy sensory ataxia (MEMSA) now describes the spectrum of disorders with epilepsy, myopathy, and ataxia without ophthalmoplegia. MEMSA now includes the disorders previously described as spinocerebellar ataxia with epilepsy (SCAE). The ataxia neuropathy spectrum (ANS) includes the phenotypes previously referred to as mitochondrial recessive ataxia syndrome (MIRAS) and sensory ataxia neuropathy dysarthria and ophthalmoplegia (SANDO). About 90% of persons in the ANS have ataxia and neuropathy as core features. Approximately two thirds develop seizures and almost one half develop ophthalmoplegia; clinical myopathy is rare. Autosomal recessive progressive external ophthalmoplegia (arPEO) is characterized by progressive weakness of the extraocular eye muscles resulting in ptosis and ophthalmoparesis (or paresis of the extraocular muscles) without associated systemic involvement; however, caution is advised because many individuals with apparently isolated arPEO at the onset develop other manifestations of POLG-related disorders over years or decades. Of note, in the ANS spectrum the neuropathy commonly precedes the onset of PEO by years to decades. Autosomal dominant progressive external ophthalmoplegia (adPEO) typically includes a generalized myopathy and often variable degrees of sensorineural hearing loss, axonal neuropathy, ataxia, depression, parkinsonism, hypogonadism, and cataracts (in what has been called "chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia plus," or "CPEO+").

Disease with characteristics of sensory neuropathy and cerebellar ataxia. Prevalence is unknown. Only 26 cases in a 5-generation American family of Irish ancestry have been reported to date. Onset is in the second and third decades of life with symptomatic onset ranging from 13 to 27 years. Patients initially present with axonal sensory neuropathy, while cerebellar ataxia and motor neuron dysfunction develop later. Linked to chromosome 7q22-q23 but the responsible gene mutation has not yet been identified.

Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS) is clinically characterized by a progressive cerebellar ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, and spasticity. Disease onset of classic ARSACS is often in early childhood, leading to delayed walking because of gait unsteadiness in very young toddlers, while an increasing number of individuals with disease onset in teenage or early-adult years are now being described. Typically the ataxia is followed by lower-limb spasticity and later by peripheral neuropathy – although pronounced peripheral neuropathy has been observed as a first sign of ARSACS. Oculomotor disturbances, dysarthria, and upper-limb ataxia develop with slower progression than the other findings. Brain imaging demonstrates atrophy of the superior vermis and the cerebellar hemisphere with additional findings on MRI, such as linear hypointensities in the pons and hyperintense rims around the thalami. Many affected individuals (though not all) have yellow streaks of hypermyelinated fibers radiating from the edges of the optic disc noted on ophthalmologic exam, and thickened retinal fibers can be demonstrated by optical coherence tomography. Mild intellectual disability, hearing loss, and urinary urgency and incontinence have been reported in some individuals.

Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 2 (AOA2) is characterized by onset of ataxia between age three and 30 years after initial normal development, axonal sensorimotor neuropathy, oculomotor apraxia, cerebellar atrophy, and elevated serum concentration of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP).