Alterations in crystallin gene expression during subculture of chick lens cells

We report here on the changes in crystallin gene expression during serial subculture of lens epithelial cells derived from day-old post-hatch chicks. Total cellular RNA from mass cultures were analysed by in vitro cell-free translation and by RNA blot (Northern) hybridization using a cloned delta-crystallin cDNA. Our results indicate that following subculture, lens epithelial cells which still retain the capacity for lens fibre differentiation (lentoid body formation) show a selective loss of delta-crystallin synthesis, and that this is related to the loss of delta-crystallin mRNA. The data suggest that older epithelial-cell populations give rise to lentoid bodies which in terms of crystallin gene expression closely resemble the later-formed cortical fibres of the adult chick lens. Tertiary cultures had an accelerated growth rate, formed no lentoids, contained no translatable alpha- or delta-crystallin mRNAs but still contained translatable beta-crystallin mRNAs.