Abstract
Crystallins are a group of soluble proteins specific to vertebrate lenses, and have been used successfully as molecular markers for studying lens differentiation. The synthesis and accumulation of δ-crystaIlin in the differentiating lens cells of chick, in particular, have been extensively studied (for review see refs 1–3). Recently, we have cloned a continuous stretch of a chick δ-crystallin gene which is specifically expressed in lens cells4. We have injected this gene into nuclei of various mouse somatic cells. δ-Crystallin is totally absent from mammalian lenses in which it is replaced by γ-crystallin, thus this xenogeneic injection system should allow us to study tissue-specific gene expression. We report here experiments which demonstrate that (1) the cloned δ-crystallin gene of chick is expressed in the mouse lens epithelial cells as efficiently as in the homologous chick cells; (2) δ-crystallin synthesized in the mouse lens epithelium has the native molecular weight, indicating correct splicing of the gene transcripts; (3) the expression is inefficient in the non-lens tissues examined, suggesting lens-specific expression of the δ-crystallin gene in the xenogeneic environment. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that a cloned gene shows preferential expression in homologous cell types of different species.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Clayton, R. M. in The Eye Vol. 5 (eds Davidson, H. & Graham, L. T.) 399–494 (Academic, London, 1974).
Okada, T. S. Curr. Topics dev. Biol. 16, 349–380 (1980).
Piatigorsky, J. Differentiation (in the press).
Yasuda, K., Kondoh, H., Okada, T. S., Nakajima, H. & Shimura, Y. Nucleic Acids Res. 10, 2879–2891 (1982).
Bhat, S. P., Jones, R. E., Sullivan, M. A. & Piatigorsky, J. Nature 284, 234–238 (1980).
Jones, R. E., Bhat, S. P., Sullivan, M. A. & Piatigorsky, J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 5879–5883 (1980).
Bhat, S. P. & Piatigorsky, J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 3299–3303 (1979).
Bower, D. J. et al. Biochem. J. 201, 339–344 (1981).
Graessmann, M., Graessman, A. & Mueller, C. INSERM 69, 233–240 (1977).
Anderson, W. F., Killos, L., Sanders-Haigh, L., Kretschmer, P. J. & Diakumakos, E. G. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 5399–5403 (1980).
Capecchi, M. Cell 22, 479–488 (1980).
Sternberger, L. A. in Immunocytochemistry, 104–169 (Wiley, New York, 1979).
Moreau, P. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 9, 6047–6068 (1981).
Banerji, J., Rusconi, S. & Schaffner, W. Cell 27, 299–308 (1981).
Pellicer, A. et al. Science 209, 1414–1422 (1980).
Mulligan, R. C. & Berg, P. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 2072–2076 (1981).
Benoist, C. & Chambon, P. Nature 290, 304–310 (1981).
Wickens, M. P., Woo, S., O'Malley, B. W. & Gurdon, J. B. Nature 285, 628–634 (1980).
Dierks, P., van Ooyen, A., Mantei, N. & Wissmann, C. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 1411–1415 (1981).
Grosschedl, R. & Birnstiel, M. L. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 7102–7106 (1980).
McKnight, S. L., Gavis, E. R. & Kingsbury, R. Cell 25, 385–398 (1981).
Tsuda, M. & Suzuki, Y. Cell 27, 175–182 (1981).
Mellon, P., Gluzman, Y. & Maniatis, T. Cell 27, 279–288 (1981).
Tsunematsu, Y., Fukui, H. N. & Kinoshita, J. H. Expl Eye Res. 26, 671–685 (1978).
Boliver, F. et al. Gene 2, 95–113 (1977).
Benz, E. W. Jr, Wydro, R. M., Nadal-Ginard, B. & Dina, D. Nature 288, 665–669 (1980).
Levinson, B., Khoury, G., Vande Woude, G. & Gruss, P. Nature 295, 568–572 (1982).
Joyner, A., Yamamoto, Y. & Bernstein, A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 1573–1577 (1982).
Yamamoto, F. & Furusawa, M. M. Expl Cell Res. 117, 441–445 (1978).
Towbin, H., Staehelin, T. & Gordon, J. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 4350–4354 (1979).
Okada, T. S., Eguchi, G. & Takeichi, M. Dev. Growth Differentiation 13, 323–336 (1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kondoh, H., Yasuda, K. & Okada, T. Tissue-specific expression of a cloned chick δ-crystallin gene in mouse cells. Nature 301, 440–442 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/301440a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/301440a0
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
The eye lens crystallins: Ambiguity as evolutionary strategy
Journal of Molecular Evolution (1986)