Autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP) is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous and progressive degenerative disorder of the retina, leading usually to severe visual handicap in adulthood. To date, disease loci/genes have been mapped/identified only in a minority of cases. DNA samples were collected from 20 large consanguineous Indian families, in which arRP segregated and that were suitable for homozygosity mapping of the disease locus. After excluding linkage to all known arRP loci, a genome-wide scan was initiated. In two families, homozygosity mapping, haplotype analysis, and linkage data mapped the disease locus (RP22) in an approximately 16-cM region between D16S287 and D16S420 on the proximal short arm of chromosome 16. No mutation has been found by direct sequencing in the gene (CRYM) encoding micron crystallin, which maps in the critical region.