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Vertebrate-like βγ-crystallins in the ocular lenses of a copepod

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Abstract

The diverse crystallins are water-soluble proteins that are responsible for the optical properties of cellular lenses of animal eyes. While all vertebrate lenses contain physiological stress-related α- and βγ-crystallins, some also contain taxon-specific, often enzyme-related crystallins. To date, the α- and βγ-crystallins have been found only in vertebrate lenses. Here we report lenses from an invertebrate, the pontellid copepod Anomalocera ornata, accumulate βγ-crystallin family members as judged by immunocytochemistry, western immunoblotting and microsequencing. Our data provide the first example of βγ-crystallin members in an invertebrate lens, establishing that the use of this protein family as lens crystallins is not confined to vertebrates.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. William S. Lane and other members of the Harvard Microchemistry Facility for their assistance in protein identification. Dr. Nicolette H. Lubsen kindly provided the rat anti-γC antibodies. This work was supported in part by the US National Institutes of Health (EY03897 to Joseph Horwitz and EY08768, EY014378 to Nansi J. Colley), Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Nansi J. Colley), Retinal Research Foundation (Nansi J. Colley), and Research to Prevent Blindness (Nansi J. Colley). Jonathan H. Cohen was supported by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ECOHAB program (NA17OP2725) to Dr. Richard B. Forward, Jr.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Duke University Marine Laboratory and Department of Biology, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, 28516, USA

    Jonathan H. Cohen

  2. Laboratory of Molecular & Developmental Biology, National Eye Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, 20892-0704, USA

    Joram Piatigorsky

  3. Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Linlin Ding & Joseph Horwitz

  4. Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Nansi J. Colley & Rebecca Ward

  5. Department of Visual Ecology, Marine Science Division, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 N, Ft. Pierce, FL, 34946, USA

    Jonathan H. Cohen

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  1. Jonathan H. Cohen
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Correspondence to Jonathan H. Cohen.

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Cohen, J.H., Piatigorsky, J., Ding, L. et al. Vertebrate-like βγ-crystallins in the ocular lenses of a copepod. J Comp Physiol A 191, 291–298 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0594-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-004-0594-4

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