Sequence characterization of gamma-crystallins from lip shark (Chiloscyllium colax): existence of two cDNAs encoding gamma-crystallins of mammalian and teleostean classes.

gamma-Crystallin is a common lens protein of most vertebrate eye lenses and the major protein component in lenses of fishes and in many mammalian species during embryonic and neonatal stages. To facilitate the structural characterization of gamma-crystallin possessing extensive charge heterogeneity, a cDNA mixture was constructed from the poly(A)+ mRNA isolated from shark eye lenses, and amplification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out to obtain cDNAs encoding multiple shark gamma-crystallins. Sequencing analysis of multiple positive clones containing PCR-amplified inserts revealed the presence of a multiplicity of isoforms in the gamma-crystallin class of this cartilaginous fish. It was of interest to find that two shark cDNA sequences coexist, one encoding gamma-crystallin (gamma M1) of high methionine content (15.5%) and the other encoding one (gamma M2) of low methionine content (5.1%), each corresponding to the major teleostean and mammalian gamma-crystallins, respectively. Comparison of protein sequences encoded by these two shark cDNAs with published sequences of gamma-crystallins from mouse, bovine, human, frog, and carp lenses indicated that there is about 61-80% sequence homology between different species of the piscine class, whereas only 47-66% is found between mammals and shark. A phylogenetic tree constructed on the basis of sequence divergence among various gamma-crystallin cDNAs revealed the close relatedness between shark gamma M2-crystallin and mammalian gamma-crystallins and that between shark gamma M1 and teleostean gamma-crystallins. The results pointed to the fact that ancestral precursors of gamma-crystallins were present in the sharp lens long before the appearance of modern-day mammalian and teleostean gamma-crystallins.