Gene and protein structure of a beta-crystallin polypeptide in murine lens: relationship of exons and structural motifs.

A 23,000 molecular weight beta-crystallin (beta 23) of the murine eye lens is encoded in a 4.1 +/- 0.3-kilobase gene containing three introns. Each of the four exons seems to code for a separate structural motif of the protein, whose tertiary structure was predicted by an interactive computer graphics technique based on the crystallographic structure of bovine gamma II-crystallin. The first exon also encodes a hydrophobic N-terminal peptide resembling membrane anchor sequences of other proteins. Our results indicate structural homology among the beta- and gamma-crystallin polypeptides, and link gene structure with protein structure in this superfamily of lens proteins.