A Saudi Arabian family presented with adult onset autosomal dominant progressive external ophthalmoplegia (adPEO) complicated by late onset reversible failure of the CNS, respiratory, hepatic, and endocrine systems. Clinical findings were suggestive of mitochondrial dysfunction and multiple mitochondrial DNA deletions were demonstrated on long range and real time polymerase chain reaction assays but not on Southern blotting. The disorder is caused by a novel heterozygous PEO1 mutation predicting a Leu360Gly substitution in the twinkle protein. The peculiar clinical presentation expands the variable phenotype observed in adPEO and Twinkle gene mutations.