Functions of crystallins in and out of lens: roles in elongated and post-mitotic cells.

ABSTRACT: The vertebrate lens evolved to collect light and focus it onto the retina. In development, the lens grows through massive elongation of epithelial cells possibly recapitulating the evolutionary origins of the lens. The refractive index of the lens is largely dependent on high concentrations of soluble proteins called crystallins. All vertebrate lenses share a common set of crystallins from two superfamilies (although other lineage specific crystallins exist). The α-crystallins are small heat shock proteins while the β- and γ-crystallins belong to a superfamily that contains structural proteins of uncertain function. The crystallins are expressed at very high levels in lens but are also found at lower levels in other cells, particularly in retina and brain. All these proteins have plausible

SUBMITTER: Slingsby C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4104235 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature