About the Authors

Sixto M. Leal Jr

Affiliations Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Sanhita Roy

Affiliation Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Chairut Vareechon

Affiliations Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Steven deJesus Carrion

Affiliations Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Heather Clark

Affiliations Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Manuel S. Lopez-Berges

Affiliation Department of Genetics, Universidad de Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain

Antonio diPietro

Affiliation Department of Genetics, Universidad de Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain

Marcus Schrettl

Affiliation Department of Molecular Biology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Nicola Beckmann

Affiliation Department of Molecular Biology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Bernhard Redl

Affiliation Department of Molecular Biology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Hubertus Haas

Affiliation Department of Molecular Biology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Eric Pearlman

Eric.Pearlman@case.edu

Affiliations Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SML EP HH. Performed the experiments: SML SR SdC CV HC. Analyzed the data: SML EP HH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MSLB MS HH BR NB AdP. Wrote the paper: SML EP.