fatal infantile lactic acidosis: defective scs has been implicated as a cause of fatal infantile lactic acidosis, which is a disease in infants that is characterized by the build-up of toxic levels of lactic acid. the condition (when it is most severe) results in death usually within 2–4 days after birth. it has been determined that patients with the condition display a two base pair deletion within the gene known as suclg1 that encodes the α subunit of scs. as a result, functional scs is absent in metabolism causing a major imbalance in flux between glycolysis and the citric acid cycle. since the cells do not have a functional citric acid cycle, acidosis results because cells are forced to choose lactic acid production as the primary means of producing atp.