title: Sequence and spatial expression of zebrafish (Danio rerio) alphaA-crystallin.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the nucleotide sequence, amino acid sequence and tissue specificity of zebrafish alphaA-crystallin.
  
  
  METHODS
  RACE, both 3' and 5', was used to clone the zebrafish alphaA-crystallin gene. The peptide sequence of the encoded protein was deduced and compared to cavefish, shark, amphibian, bird and human orthologues using the CLUSTAL W algorithm. alphaA-crystallin transcript was evaluated in brain, heart, lens, liver, skeletal muscle/skin, and spleen by semi-quantitative RT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 173 amino acid sequence of zebrafish alphaA-crystallin was determined to be 73% and 86% similar to its human and cavefish orthologues, respectively. We detected high expression of zebrafish alphaA-crystallin in the lens and very low expression in liver and spleen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Few amino acids identified as being functionally important to chaperone function differ between zebrafish and mammalian alphaA-crystallin. The expression of alphaA-crystallin is mainly confined to the lens in both taxa. These data suggest that zebrafish alphaA-crystallin plays a physiologically limited role outside of the zebrafish lens, similar to its mammalian orthologues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Ashland University, Ashland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Runkle
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kantorow
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horwitz
authors.forename: Mason
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Posner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003459:Crystallins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003459:Crystallins; D012333:RNA, Messenger