Gene
RDH5
retinol dehydrogenase 5
- HGNC 9940↗(opens in a new tab)
- Ensembl gene ENSG00000135437↗(opens in a new tab)
- NCBI Gene 5959↗(opens in a new tab)
Summary
- Cytogenetic location
- 12q13.2
- Coordinates
- Chromosome 12: 55,720,393–55,724,705 (GRCh38)
- Exons
- 5 exons across 4.3 kb
- Protein
- 318 amino acids
- Also known as
- HSD17B9, SDR9C5
- Previous symbols
- RDH1
- MANE Select transcript
- ENST00000257895.10NM_002905.5
- Locus type
- Protein-coding
- Very high
- Confident
- Low
- Very low
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Get my Genome TestCurated reports relevant to this gene
Congenital Stationary Night Blindness
- Fundus AlbipunctatusAutosomal recessive
A form of stationary night blindness, usually caused by changes in both copies of RDH5, with many small white dots in the retina and slow adaptation to the dark.
- 4 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
▶Actionability
Knowing the cause helps avoid misdiagnosis as a progressive retinal dystrophy.
Hereditary Macular Dystrophies
- PRPH2-Related RetinopathyAutosomal dominant
A retinal condition caused by changes in PRPH2, which can cause pattern dystrophy, adult vitelliform dystrophy or wider retinal degeneration, even within one family.
- 4 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
▶Actionability
Regular eye examinations help detect complications and support planning.
Retinitis Pigmentosa
- RLBP1-Related RetinopathyAutosomal recessive
A retinal dystrophy caused by changes in the RLBP1 gene.
- 4 GenCC submitters rate it definitive or strong
How RDH5 is laid out
- Coding sequence
- Untranslated region
- Intron
- Direction of transcription
- Known disease-causing sites
- Stretches short reads find hard
Exons of the gene's MANE Select transcript (release v1.5), from NCBI and EMBL-EBI, on the GRCh38 reference genome.
Chromosome bands from UCSC's GRCh38 ideogram (2022-10-29).
Nearby genes from Ensembl release 116, on GRCh38.
Exons make up 1.3 kb of the gene's 4.3 kb; 957 of those bases code for the protein.
Sequencing RDH5
3Low
How hard RDH5 is to sequence with short reads, out of 100Each bar is the share of RDH5's exon bases in that kind of difficult region. The score weighs them by how much each costs a short-read call: 0 when no base is in any, 100 when every base is in all of them.
- MappabilityStretches where 100 or 250 bp reads cannot be placed uniquely, so a call there may be missing or wrong. Weight 35%.0%
- HomologySegmental duplications: copies elsewhere in the genome, such as paralogues and pseudogenes, at 90% identity or more. Weight 30%.0%
- RepeatsTandem repeats and runs of one base, which reads slip on and may not span. Weight 15%.6.9%
- GC contentWindows under 25% or over 65% G and C, which library preparation covers thinly. Weight 10%.17%
- Reference coverageGaps in the reference assembly nearby, where there is no sequence for reads to align to. Weight 10%.0%
38
positions in RDH5 where ClinVar classes a change as pathogenic or likely pathogenic
None of them falls in a region short reads find hard.
A whole genome covers all 4.3 kb of RDH5, introns included, not only the 1.3 kb of exons.
Genes linked to the same conditions
Traits linked to RDH5
The Human Phenotype Ontology lists these as features of the rare conditions RDH5 can cause. Each trait's page lists the other genes linked to it.
External links
Gene records
Transcript
Protein
Where this comes from
- HGNC: the gene's symbol, name, other symbols and location.
- MANE Select v1.5, from NCBI and EMBL-EBI: the transcript, its exons and coding sequence.
- GenCC and ClinGen, released 2026-10-17: which conditions the gene is linked to, and how strongly.
- The ACMG secondary findings list, SF v3.2.
- ClinVar and the GIAB stratifications: known disease-causing sites, and the regions short reads find hard.
- The Genome in a Bottle genome stratifications, from NIST: the sequencing difficulty score.
- The Human Phenotype Ontology, release 2026-09-01: the traits linked to the gene. Find out more at hpo.jax.org.
- Data release 2026.10.17-8666dff2.
Cite this page
Dante Labs. (n.d.). RDH5 gene: retinol dehydrogenase 5. Retrieved 17 October 2026, from https://dantelabs.com/genes/rdh5
Dante Labs. RDH5 gene: retinol dehydrogenase 5 [Internet]. [cited 17 October 2026]. Available from: https://dantelabs.com/genes/rdh5
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