Chicken lens crystallin DNA sequences show at least two delta-crystallin genes

Restriction analysis of chicken DNA using probes derived from a cloned cDNA and analysis of cloned genomic DNA fragments containing delta-crystallin gene sequences have indicated the presence of at least two non-allelic genes for delta-crystallin, the first and principal crystallin synthesised in the embryonic chicken lens. Electron microscopic analyses of three cloned genomic fragments revealed that the delta-crystallin mRNA gene sequences are interrupted at least 14 times in one of the delta-crystallin genes.