Ontogeny of α-crystallin polypeptides during the lens development of a mutant mouse

The ontogeny of αA, αB and αAins plypeptides of the α-crystallin was investigated by the indirect immunofluorescence staining method with antibodies directed against these three polypeptides in a mutant muse strain called dyl (27).In this strain cataractcgenesis starts around day 16 of lens development but the early development of the lens and the ontogeny of lens crystallins do not differ from the normal genotype (29).The polypeptides were fractionated from normal adult Swiss albino mice total native α-crystallin by SdS gel electrophoresis, extracted, lyophilized and injected into young rabbits for production of the antibody. The isolated polypeptides were controlled by SdS gel re-electrophoresis and the antibodies were tested against rat lens native α-crystallin by immunoblotting.αA and αAins antibodies cross reacted, while αB did not show any cross reaction.Results presented here show that αA and αB appear simultaneously while αAins was detectable at a later stage of lens development. These results are...