Given its wide retinal distribution and potentially relevant role in retinal function, it remains a formal possibility that, inasmuch as certain mutations in the SNCA gene are known to be associated with neurological disorders in the brain, unsought α-synuclein genetic alterations could be causative of retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal neurodegenerative diseases. The gene discussed is SNCA; the disease is retinitis pigmentosa.