The tex code does the following:
tex(x_1);
$$x_{1}$$
The mathml code slavishly follows the same pattern, which is wrong:
mathml(x_1);
<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <msub><mi>x_</mi> <mn>1</mn></msub> </math>
If we follow the DWIM method that tex uses, then the underscore _ should be dropped from the mathml output.
Fixed in commit 69981c5f6.