Peripherin and the vision thing

Research on the phenotype or genetic basis for retinal degeneration is the subject of three articles in the Mar 1993 issue of Nature Genetics. These phenotypes are linked to mutations that affect peripherin, a retinal protein, and with the loss of photoreceptors that characterizes retinitis pigmentosa (RP). B.E. Nichols and colleagues report a mutation associated with butterfly dystrophy. J. Wells and colleagues and K. Kajiwara and colleagues identify different phenotypes as causes of macular degeneration and RP.