PURPOSE Previous studies have shown that alpha-crystallin, a major lens protein, acts as a chaperone preventing the thermal denaturation of other lens crystallins. However, there has not been an examination of the alpha-crystallin chaperone ability with respect to the types of insult thought to cause human cataract. Therefore, an examination of the chaperone potential of alpha-crystallin under ...

PURPOSE To identify the underlying genetic defect in a north Indian family with seven members in three-generations affected with bilateral congenital cataract. METHODS Detailed family history and clinical data were recorded. Linkage analysis using fluorescently labeled microsatellite markers for the already known candidate gene loci was performed in combination with mutation screening by bidi...

To determine the molecular mechanisms for cold cataract formation in the nucleus of the young mammalian lens, we have investigated the thermally reversible opacification of gamma-crystallin solutions isolated from calf lens. Coexistence curves (plots of opacification temperature Tc versus protein concentration) were determined for the individual gamma-crystallin fractions II, III, and IV as wel...

It is well established that high concentrations of sugar in the lens of the eye eventually lead to fiber cell destruction and cataracts. In these studies the decrease in crystallin mRNAs was quantified as a result of influx of high concentrations of galactose into the lens of rats. The alpha A-, alpha B1-, and gamma-crystallin mRNA concentrations were assessed in normal lens and in lens undergo...

Previous studies have shown that mouse gamma F-crystallin sequences -759 to +45, which include the core promoter and two upstream enhancer elements, contain sufficient information for directing gene expression to terminally differentiated fiber cells of the ocular lens. To investigate the role that proximal sequences of the mouse gamma F-crystallin promoter play in the developmental regulation ...

Calf lens protein components separated by DEAE chromatography have been related to the crystallins isolated by the new method. Gamma crystallin is the first fraction eluted from the column, folloioed by the beta crystallin components, and then the alpha crystallin subgroup. Since the DEAE separable components could thus be identified as members of the alpha, beta, or gamma crystallin subgroups,...

PURPOSE To characterize the possible interaction of alpha crystallin with partially denatured forms of gamma crystallin. METHODS Gamma crystallin was denatured in the presence of guanidine hydrochloride, then dialyzed in the presence or absence of alpha crystallin. The high-molecular-weight complex formed in the presence of alpha was characterized by gel filtration chromatography, electron mi...

Vitamin C, Vitamin E, scopoletin and damnacanthal are the major constituents of Noni (Morinda citrifolia). These compounds are known to have good medicinal properties and they are known to act as antioxidants. Loss of vision in elderly is due to opaqueness of the lens proteins such as gamma-D-crystallin during oxidative stress conditions. Therefore, it is of importance to find the potential int...

We have isolated the individual gamma-crystallins expressed in young human lenses and identified with which of the six known human gamma-crystallin genes they each correspond. We find that at least 90% of the gamma-crystallins synthesized in the young human lens are the products of genes gamma G3 and gamma G4. We demonstrate that gamma G4-crystallin undergoes a temperature-dependent phase separ...