IDENTIFICATION OF A LOCUS, DISTINCT FROM RDS-PERIPHERIN, FOR AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE RETINITIS-PIGMENTOSA ON CHROMOSOME 6P

We performed a genomic search for linkage to autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa in a large pedigree obtained from the Dominican Republic using microsatellite markers. Regions of the genome known to contain genes for retinitis pigmentosa were preferentially tested. One of these regions, on chromosome 6p, which contains the gene for peripherin, gave positive lod scores. Use of a mononucleotide repeat polymorphism in the peripherin gene excluded this locus. Two- and multi-point analyses suggest that the most likely location for the disease gene is near D6S291, which is located approximately 20 centimorgans telomeric from peripherin.