Summary
The eye lensβ-crystallins in cow and chicken are encoded by a family of at least six genes. In order to assess the distribution of the corresponding genes among other vertebrates we hybridized β-crystallin sequences (βA2, βA3/A1, βA4, βB1, βB2, βB3), isolated from a bovine lens cDNA library, to Southern blots on whichEcoR1-digested chromosomal DNA was blotted from different vertebrate species. These included human, chimpanzee, calf, rat, pigeon, duck, monitor lizard, toad, trout, and lamprey. Positive hybridization signals were found in the representatives of virtually all classes of vertebrates. The basic βB-crystallins gave hybridization signals in more species than the acidic βA ones. In monitor lizard and toad the weakest hybridization signals for basic crystallin probes were found. For acidic crystallin probes the distribution pattern was more simple; among cold-blooded vertebrates a signal for βA2 was found in trout and lamprey, for βA4 in trout, and for βA3/A1 only in toad. The results demonstrate that the duplications leading to the β-crystallin gene family occurred before or during the earliest stages of vertebrate evolution.
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van Rens, G.L.M., Hol, F.A., de Jong, W.W. et al. Presence of hybridizing DNA sequences homologous to bovine acidic and basicβ-crystallins in all classes of vertebrates. J Mol Evol 33, 457–463 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02103138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02103138