Discrimination between the lens fiber cell 115 kd cytoskeletal protein and alpha-actinin.
The lens fiber cell cytoskeleton includes a protein with a relative molecular weight, by SDS PAGE, of 115 kD. This protein has been purported to be, or be related to alpha-actinin, a highly-conserved family of actin-binding cytoskeletal proteins common to many tissues across a wide phylogenetic range. In this report we assess the relationship between the 115 kd lens fiber cell protein and alpha-actinin. Assessment of relative molecular weight, immunologic cross-reactivity, and partial sequence analysis suggest that the 115 kD lens fiber cell cytoskeletal protein and alpha-actinin are either unrelated, or, at best, that the lens protein represents an unusually divergent isoform of the alpha-actin family of proteins. Immunochemical analysis of homogenates of bovine heart and red blood cells indicate that these tissues express a protein which is weakly cross-reactive with the lens 115 kD protein, but that this cross-reactive protein is not alpha-actinin.
Department of Human Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis 95616.
P G
PG
FitzGerald
J
J
Casselman
D000185:Actinin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002417:Cattle; D002458:Cell Fractionation; D003429:Cross Reactions / Q000276:immunology; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009132:Muscles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D000185:Actinin