About the Authors

Yi-Ju Li

Contributed equally to this work with: Yi-Ju Li, Mollie A. Minear

yiju.li@duke.edu

Affiliations Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America, Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Mollie A. Minear

Contributed equally to this work with: Yi-Ju Li, Mollie A. Minear

Affiliation Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Jacqueline Rimmler

Affiliation Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Bei Zhao

Affiliation Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Elmer Balajonda

Affiliation Duke University Eye Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Michael A. Hauser

Affiliation Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

R. Rand Allingham

Affiliation Duke University Eye Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Allen O. Eghrari

Affiliation Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

S. Amer Riazuddin

Affiliation Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Nicholas Katsanis

Affiliation Center for Human Disease Modeling, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

John D. Gottsch

Affiliation Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Simon G. Gregory

Affiliation Center for Human Genetics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Gordon K. Klintworth

Affiliations Duke University Eye Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Natalie A. Afshari

Affiliation Duke University Eye Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: Y-JL MAM SGG GKK NAA. Performed the experiments: MAM. Analyzed the data: Y-JL JR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BZ EB MAH RRA AOE SAR NK JDG. Wrote the paper: Y-JL MAM SGG. Collection and organization of samples and data: BZ EB AOE SAR. Clinical examinations and collection of samples: RRA JDG NAA. Provided control samples for association study: MAH RRA. Provided samples for linkage study: AOE SAR NK JDG. Revised intellectual content of manuscript: JR BZ EB MAH RRA AOE SAR NK JDG GKK NAA.