Genes and mutations causing retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a heterogeneous set of inherited retinopathies with many disease-causing genes, many known mutations, and highly varied clinical consequences. Progress in finding treatments is dependent on determining the genes and mutations causing these diseases, which includes both gene discovery and mutation screening in affected individuals and families. Despite the complexity, substantial progress has been made in finding RP genes and mutations. Depending on the type of RP, and the technology used, it is possible to detect mutations in 30-80% of cases. One of the most powerful approaches to genetic testing is high-throughput 'deep sequencing', that is, next-generation sequencing (NGS). NGS…