Structural features of delta-crystallin of turtle lens

Ostrich crystallins. Structural characterization of delta-crystallin with enzymic activity

Lens crystallins from the African ostrich (Struthio camelus) were isolated and characterized. Four crystallin fractions corresponding to alpha-, delta/beta- and beta-crystallins similar to those of duck crystallins were isolated, but epsilon-crystallin was found to be absent. The native molecular masses and subunit structures of the purified fractions were analysed by gel filtration. SDS/PAGE and isoelectric focusing, revealing various extents of heterogeneity in each orthologous crystallin class. An ion-exchange chromatographic method was used for the large-scale preparation of delta-crystallin suitable for structural and enzymic studies. It was unexpectedly found that the purified native delta-crystallin of ostrich lens possessed high argininosuccinate lyase activity, in contrast with chicken delta-crystallin. The c.d. spectra indicated a predominant beta-sheet structure in alpha- and beta-crystallins, and a significant contribution of alpha-helical structure in the delta-crystallin fraction. The estimate of secondary structures from c.d. spectroscopy for each crystallin class bears a resemblance to that of duck crystallins, except that ostrich delta-crystallin possesses much less helical content than duck delta-crystallin. Comparison of crystallin compositions and structures from aquatic and terrestrial birds revealed distinct differences.

Zeta-crystallin, a novel protein from the guinea pig lens is related to alcohol dehydrogenases

zeta-Crystallin is a major component of the water-soluble proteins of the guinea pig lens. We have constructed a lens cDNA library from one- to seven-day-old guinea pigs in the plasmid Bluescript KS+ and used the 16 amino acid (aa) sequence of a CNBr peptide to design an oligodeoxyribonucleotide probe. Analysis of two positive clones and direct sequence of the 5' end of the RNA resulted in the completion of a most probably full-length mRNA comprising 1842 nucleotides (nt). The ATG start codon occurs 83 nt downstream from the 5' end. The open reading frame, ending with a stop codon at nt position 1070, predicts a protein of 328 aa with a calculated Mr of 35,071. Comparison of the amino acid sequence with the National Biomedical Research Foundation protein data base reveals a significant similarity of zeta-crystallin with the enzyme of the alcohol dehydrogenase family.

The cellular eye lens and crystallins of cubomedusan jellyfish

The ultrastructure and major soluble proteins of the transparent eye lens of two cubomedusan jellyfish, Tripedalia cystophora and Carybdea marsupialis, have been examined. Each species has two complex eyes (one large and one small) on four sensory structures called rhopalia. The lenses consist of closely spaced cells with few organelles. The lens is situated next to the retina, with only an acellular layer separating it from the photoreceptors. SDS-PAGE showed that the large lens of C. marsupialis has only two crystallin polypeptide bands (with molecular masses of approximately 20,000 and 35,000 daltons), while that of T. cystophora has three bands (two with a molecular mass near 20,000 daltons and one with a molecular mass near 35,000 daltons). Interestingly, the small lens of T. cystophora appears to be markedly deficient in or lack the lower molecular weight proteins. The crystallins behaved as monomeric proteins by FPLC and showed no immunological reaction with antisera of the major squid crystallin, chicken delta-crystallin or mouse gamma-crystallin in western immunoblots. Very weak reactions were found with antimouse alpha- and beta-crystallin sera. The 35,000 dalton crystallin of T. cystophora was purified and called J1-crystallin. It contained relatively high leucine (13%) and tyrosine (9%) and low methionine (2%). Several tryptic peptides were sequenced. Weak sequence similarities were found with alpha- and beta-crystallins, which may account for some of the apparent weak immunological cross-reactivity with these vertebrate crystallins. A polyclonal antiserum made in rabbits from a synthetic peptide of J1-crystallin reacted strongly with J1-crystallin of T. cystophora and C. marsupialis in immunoblots; by contrast, no reaction was obtained with the lower molecular weight crystallins from these jellyfish, with the squid crystallin, or with any crystallins from the frog or human lens. Thus, despite the structural similarities between the cubomedusan, squid and vertebrate lenses, their crystallins appear very different.

Tau-crystallin/alpha-enolase: one gene encodes both an enzyme and a lens structural protein

tau-Crystallin has been a major component of the cellular lenses of species throughout vertebrate evolution, from lamprey to birds. Immunofluorescence analysis of the embryonic turtle lens, using antiserum to lamprey tau-crystallin showed that the protein is expressed throughout embryogenesis and is present at high concentrations in all parts of the lens. Partial peptide sequence for the isolated turtle protein and deduced sequences for several lamprey peptides all revealed a close similarity to the glycolytic enzyme enolase (E.C. 4.2.1.11). A full-sized cDNA for putative duck tau-crystallin was obtained and sequenced, confirming the close relationship with alpha-enolase. Southern blot analysis showed that the duck genome contains a single alpha-enolase gene, while Northern blot analysis showed that the message for tau-crystallin/alpha-enolase is present in embryonic duck lens at 25 times the abundance found in liver. tau-Crystallin possesses enolase activity, but the activity is greatly reduced, probably because of age-related posttranslational modification. It thus appears that a highly conserved, important glycolytic enzyme has been used as a structural component of lens since the start of vertebrate evolution. Apparently the enzyme has not been recruited for its catalytic activity but for some distinct structural property. tau-Crystallin/alpha-enolase is an example of a multifunctional protein playing two very different roles in evolution but encoded by a single gene.

Biochemical comparison of lens crystallins from three reptilian species

Lens crystallins were isolated from the homogenates of reptilian eye lenses derived from three different species by gel-permeation chromatography and characterized by gel electrophoresis, amino-acid analysis, N-terminal sequence analysis and circular dichroism. Four fractions corresponding to alpha-, delta/epsilon/beta-, beta- and gamma-crystallins were obtained for the crystallins from caiman lenses, whereas delta- and gamma-crystallin fraction were present in lesser amounts or missing in the turtle and snake lenses, respectively. The native molecular masses for these purified fractions and their polypeptide compositions were determined by gel filtration and SDS-gel electrophoresis, respectively, revealing the typical subunit compositions for each classified crystallin. The spectra of circular dichroism indicate a predominant beta-sheet structure in alpha-, beta- and gamma-crystallins, and a major contribution of alpha-helical structure in delta/epsilon-crystallin fraction, which bears a resemblance to the secondary structure of delta-crystallin from the chicken lenses. Comparison of the amino-acid contents of each orthologous class of reptilian crystallins with those of evolutionary distant species still exhibited similarity in their amino-acid compositions. N-terminal sequence analysis of the crystallin fractions revealed that all fractions except that of gamma-crystallin are N-terminally blocked. Extensive sequence similarity between the reptilian gamma-crystallin polypeptides and those from other vertebrate species were found, which establish the close relatedness of gamma-crystallins amongst the major classes of vertebrates.

tau-Crystallin from the turtle lens: purification and partial characterization

A lens protein with a molecular mass near 46 000 daltons has been purified from the turtle lens. It is a monomeric protein which differs from other lens crystallins in its antigenicity, near-UV circular dichroism spectrum and amino acid composition. Like delta-crystallin, it has appreciable secondary structure (52% alpha-helix). This lens protein has been named tau-crystallin. tau-Crystallin cross-reacts with the novel 48 000 dalton protein identified recently in lenses of the sea lamprey. Although distinct, the possibility that tau-crystallin shares an ancestral relationship with delta-crystallin is discussed.

Delta crystallins and their nucleic acids

delta-Crystallin is a major structural protein of avian and reptilian lenses that is absent from the lenses of fish, amphibia and mammals. It appears to be a tetrameric protein with a native molecular weight near 200 000 (200K) and polypeptide molecular weight near 50K and 48K) (see Note added in proof). The alpha-crystallin polypeptides are extremely similar, associate in various combinations of four and are held together by hydrophobic interactions. Although principally cytoplasmic, delta-crystallin may associate with the cell membrane. delta-Crystallin differs from other lens crystallins in its alpha-helical content, native and subunit molecular weights, antigenicity, low wavelength of maximum fluorescence emission (315 nm) after excitation at 280 nm and amino acid composition (high in leucine; low in aromatic residues en no cysteine). Analyses of peptides, native and subunit molecular weights, and circular dichroism spectra indicate that the primary, secondary, tertiary and subunit structures of delta-crystallin have been generally conserved during evolution. There are at least two tandemly arranged delta-crystallin containing 13-15 introns in the chicken; a similar structure exists for a cloned delta-crystallin gene in the duck. Experiments with chicken show that delta-crystallin synthesis occurs principally in the embryo, especially during lens fiber cell differentiation. delta-Crystallin synthesis also takes place during lens fiber cell differentiation in culture. There is evidence for both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of delta-crystallin synthesis. Current studies on the crystallographic and primary structures of delta-crystallin, on the structure, evolution and expression of the delta-crystallin genes, and on the translation of delta-crystallin mRNAs make this specialized lens protein an active area of investigation.

Lamprey 48-kDa lens protein represents a novel class of crystallins

SDS-PAGE revealed a major Mr 48 000 polypeptide of pI around 8 in the water-soluble fraction of lamprey lenses. It occurs as a monomeric protein, and its amino acid composition and tryptic peptides show no resemblances to alpha-, beta-, gamma- or delta-crystallin. Immunoblotting with antiserum against the 48-kDa protein revealed an immunologically related polypeptide of similar Mr in reptiles, several birds and a fish, but showed no cross-reactivity with any other water-soluble lens component. The 48-kDa protein is not detected in many birds and fishes, and in the investigated mammals and amphibians.