Up-regulation of crystallin mRNAs in form-deprived chick eyes.

Form-deprivation of chicks during early postnatal development results in ocular enlargement and great myopic refractive error (form-deprivation myopia). Previous studies have indicated that the retina, RPE and choroid play important roles in ocular enlargement in form-deprivation myopia. We aimed to isolate genes up-regulated in the retina-RPE-choroid of form-deprived chick eyes. A suppression subtractive hybridization method was used to compare mRNA expression in the retina-RPE-choroid of form-deprived and control eyes. One up-regulated cDNA was isolated and identified as part of chick delta1-crystallin cDNA. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that delta1-crystallin mRNA was up-regulated in the retina-RPE at day 7 after form-deprivation treatment. Semi-quantitative RT-PCE analysis of the expression of several transcription factors indicated that Sox1 and Sox3 were upregulated in parallel with delta1-crystallin mRNA in form-deprived eyes. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that alphaA-, betaA3/A1-, betaB1-, and betaB2-crystallin mRNAs were also up-regulated in form-deprived eyes. Although the detailed mechanisms and functions of the crystallin family genes in the retina-RPE-choroid of form-deprived eyes remain unclear, results of our study suggests that form-deprivation affects the expression of these genes in chick eyes.

[1]  R. Lovell-Badge,et al.  Involvement of Sox1, 2 and 3 in the early and subsequent molecular events of lens induction. , 1998, Development.

[2]  S. Honda,et al.  Retinal control on the axial length mediated by transforming growth factor-beta in chick eye. , 1996, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[3]  Aaron P. Campbell,et al.  Suppression subtractive hybridization: a method for generating differentially regulated or tissue-specific cDNA probes and libraries. , 1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  R. Lovell-Badge,et al.  Involvement of SOX proteins in lens‐specific activation of crystallin genes. , 1995, The EMBO journal.

[5]  A. Cvekl,et al.  Pax-6 and lens-specific transcription of the chicken delta 1-crystallin gene. , 1995, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[6]  W. Stell,et al.  Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) act as stop and go signals to modulate postnatal ocular growth in the chick. , 1994, Experimental eye research.

[7]  H. Kondoh,et al.  Overlapping positive and negative regulatory elements determine lens-specific activity of the delta 1-crystallin enhancer , 1993, Molecular and cellular biology.

[8]  K. Agata,et al.  Genetic characterization of the multipotent dedifferentiated state of pigmented epithelial cells in vitro. , 1993, Development.

[9]  J. Horwitz.  Proctor Lecture. The function of alpha-crystallin. , 1993, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[10]  F. Schaeffel,et al.  Longitudinal chromatic aberration and emmetropization: results from the chicken eye. , 1992, The Journal of physiology.

[11]  R. Clayton,et al.  Independent regulation of two coexpressed δ-crystallin genes in chick lens and nonlens tissues , 1991 .

[12]  A. Laties,et al.  Retinal dopamine and form-deprivation myopia. , 1989, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[13]  J. Sivak,et al.  Experimentally induced myopia in chicks: Morphometric and biochemical analysis during the first 14 days after hatching , 1988, Vision Research.

[14]  W E O'Brien,et al.  Gene sharing by delta-crystallin and argininosuccinate lyase. , 1988, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[15]  K. Goto,et al.  Lens-specific enhancer in the third intron regulates expression of the chicken delta 1-crystallin gene. , 1987, Genes & development.

[16]  J. Wallman,et al.  Local retinal regions control local eye growth and myopia. , 1987, Science.

[17]  J. Wallman,et al.  Visual deprivation causes myopia in chicks with optic nerve section. , 1987, Current eye research.

[18]  J. Nagle,et al.  Sequence of the chicken delta 2 crystallin gene and its intergenic spacer. Extreme homology with the delta 1 crystallin gene. , 1986, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[19]  R. Clayton,et al.  Cellular heterogeneity in the expression of the δ-crystallin gene in non-lens tissues☆ , 1985 .

[20]  J. Piatigorsky,et al.  The complete sequence of the chicken delta 1 crystallin gene and its 5' flanking region. , 1985, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[21]  J Turkel,et al.  Extreme myopia produced by modest change in early visual experience. , 1978, Science.