Targeted Sequencing of 179 Genes Associated with Hereditary Retinal Dystrophies and 10 Candidate Genes Identifies Novel and Known Mutations in Patients with Various Retinal Diseases

A substantial number of potential new genes and new mutations associated with HRDs remain to be discovered. Identification of the novel HRDs-causing mutations in our study not only provides a better understanding of genotype-phenotype relationships in these diseases, but also demonstrates that the approach described herein is an effective method for large scale mutation detection among diverse and complicated HRDs cases.