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First published online June 8, 2006

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Crystallin clear vision

Cataracts - cloudy lenses - are the leading cause of human blindness. How cataracts form is poorly understood although defects in crystallins, the major soluble proteins in lens fibre cells, have been implicated. Now on p. 2585, Goishi and colleagues propose that the defective expression of the protein chaperone A-crystallin causes the structural protein -crystallin to become insoluble and blocks the terminal differentiation of lens fibre cells. Together, these changes cause cataracts. The researchers began their study when they noticed that zebrafish cloche mutants, which lack blood cells and blood vessels, also have cataracts. A proteomics analysis indicated that -crystallin is insoluble in the cataracts of cloche mutants, which led the researchers to discover that A-crystallin is missing from cloche lenses during their development. The overexpression of exogenous A-crystallin rescued the cloche lens phenotype - one of the first times that cataract formation has been blocked in vivo. Thus, as well as providing insights into cataract formation, zebrafish cloche mutants could be used to screen for anti-cataract drugs.

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Related articles in Development:

A-crystallin expression prevents -crystallin insolubility and cataract formation in the zebrafish cloche mutant lens

Katsutoshi Goishi, Akio Shimizu, Gabriel Najarro, Sumiko Watanabe, Rick Rogers, Leonard I. Zon, and Michael Klagsbrun
Development 2006 133: 2585-2593. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?