Synthesis of alpha-crystallin by a cell line derived from the lens of a transgenic animal.

Cultured cells derived from transgenic animals have not generally been utilized to investigate questions in cell biology; however, to study the properties of proteins from the lens of the eye, a cell line which synthesizes alpha-crystallin was established from a transgenic mouse. All the alpha-crystallins, alpha A, alpha B, and alpha Insert, accumulate in the cell line. The alpha-crystallin, 1.6% of the cellular protein, is found in large molecular weight aggregates similar to the aggregates found in the normal mouse lens. The alpha-crystallins in the lens cells correspond exactly to both the unmodified and the phosphorylated alpha-crystallins found in the lens of the mouse, suggesting that some post-translational modification of the mouse alpha-crystallin may be important to the structure of this protein.