Urea cycle disorders (UCDs) are inborn errors of nitrogen detoxification/arginine synthesis due to defects in the urea cycle enzymes (Figure1), carbamoylphosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1), ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS), argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) and arginase 1 (ARG1), leading to respective deficiencies (abbreviated CPS1D, OTCD, ASSD, ASLD and ARG1D; corresponding MIM numbers, #237300, #311250; #215700; #207900; #207800 respectively). The gene discussed is ASL; the disease is ornithine carbamoyltransferase deficiency.