AMINO ACID COMPOSITION OF THE LENS PROTEINS OF THE BOVINE EYE

Abstract

ACCORDING to the monograph of Krause¹, Berzelius, in 1830, found 36 per cent protein in the lens of the bovine eye. He called it crystallin and stated that it was related to globulin. Mörner,²at the end of the nineteenth century, attempted the division and isolation of the various proteins of the crystalline lens, which yielded fractions having individual characteristics. Besides the insoluble protein, albuminoid, he obtained two water-soluble proteins, which he designated as α and β crystallins, and a fourth protein obtained in amounts too small for quantitative analysis. These fractions, in spite of the arbitrary conditions of separation, isolation and denomination, had a certain degree of individuality. They were subjected to elementary analysis, and their carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur values were established. Only after the advent of Emil Fischer's ester method did the investigation of the amino acid composition of the isolated proteins become possible.