Moreover, the ocular degeneration phenotype of both MERTK−/− mice and the RCS rat mirrors that seen with human loss-of-function mutations of MERTK which result in retinitis pigmentosa, providing confidence in the translatability of pre-clinical findings and further evidence for the essentiality of MERTK in the retina (Gal et al. 2000). Here, MERTK is linked to retinitis pigmentosa.