A lamprey lens protein related to avian and reptilian 5 crystallin

Abstract

Delta crystallin has hitherto been considered specific to reptiles and birds. Evidence presented in this paper suggests that a major lens protein in adult river lampreys (Lampetra fluviatilis) is related to chick δ crystallin. Both are of similar size (Mr 45–50,000), and the lamprey protein cross-reacts with antibodies against chick δ crystallin in immunodiffusion, immunoelectrophoretic and immunoblotting tests. However, the charge properties and V8 proteolytic fragment patterns of the lamprey protein are markedly different from those of avian and reptilian δ crystal 1 ins. Preliminary evidence on the occurrence of δ-related DNA sequences in the genomes of all vertebrates examined, is also discussed.