Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 21 November 1980:
Vol. 210. no. 4472, pp. 914 - 916
DOI: 10.1126/science.7434006
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Science, Vol 210, Issue 4472, 914-916
Copyright © 1980 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Persistence of crystallin messenger RNA's with reduced translation in hereditary cataracts in mice

T Shinohara and J Piatigorsky

In vitro translation experiments showed that the lens fiber cells of two hereditary cataracts in mice (Nakano and Philly) possessed a full complement of crystallin messenger RNA's, despite severely reduced synthesis of crystallin in these cells. The reduction in synthesis in the lens fiber cells correlated with the increase in Na+ and the decrease in K+, which occurs during cataractogenesis. In contrast to the fiber cells, the epithelial cells continued to synthesize crystallins in the cataractous lenses. Crystallin synthesis was stimulated in the fiber cells by raising the K+ concentration and lowering the Na+ concentration in the cultured lenses. The reduction in crystallin synthesis in the initial stages of cataractogenesis in the Nakano and Philly lenses thus appears to be due to poor utilization of crystallin messenger RNA's in the fiber cells.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Selective loss of a family of gene transcripts in a hereditary murine cataract.
A. Garber, C Winkler, T Shinohara, C. King, G Inana, J Piatigorsky, and R. Gold (1985)
Science 227, 74-77
   Abstract »    PDF »
Deficiency of functional messenger RNA for a developmentally regulated beta-crystallin polypeptide in a hereditary cataract.
D Carper (1982)
Science 217, 463-464
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)