- Mutations in the human retinal degeneration slow (RDS) gene can cause either retinitis pigmentosa or macular dystrophy. Wells, J., Wroblewski, J., Keen, J., Inglehearn, C., Jubb, C., Eckstein, A., Jay, M., Arden, G., Bhattacharya, S., Fitzke, F. Nat. Genet. (1993)