Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA) is a rare, debilitating, life-shortening, degenerative neurological disorder of autosomal recessive origin, caused by an intronic trinucleotide (GAA) expansion in intron 1 of the frataxin (FXN) gene.68 Reduced FXN results in progressive pathology in certain cell types, including specific neurons (e.g. sensory neurons in dorsal root ganglia), cardiomyocytes and pancreatic islets. Here, FXN is linked to Friedreich ataxia.