Immunofluorescent studies on aphakia, a mutation of a gene involved in the control of lens differentiation in the mouse embryo☆

[摘要] Aphakia,anautosomalrecessivesinglegenemutationinthemouse,seriouslyaffectsthedevelopmentoftheocularlens.Uptoadvancedstagesoflensinvaginationmorphogenesisproceedsnormally.Inthelatelenscupandearlylensvesiclestage,however,theepitheliumofthelensrudimentbecomesdisorganizedandthelumenofthevesiclefillsupwithroundedcells,apparentlyreleasedfromtheepithelium.Thelensstalkpersistsfrequently.Probablyasaconsequenceoftheaphakicstateotherpartsoftheeyesecondarilybecomeabnormal.Immunofluorescentstudiesweredoneonembryonicnormalandaphakiaeyeswithantiseraagainstadultmousecrystallins.Inthenormalembryothefirstpositivereactionswerefoundinthelatelenscupstage(1034–11daysofgestation).ByDay12allcellsofthelensvesiclewerebrightlyfluorescent.Adaylaterthecellsoftheposteriorwall,nowlensfibers,hadelongatedsufficientlytoobliteratethelumenofthevesicle.Theentireorganwashighlyfluorescent,indicatingthatallofitscellscontainedlargeamountsofcrystallins.Themutantlens,studiedoverthesametimespan,showednoreactionatall.Themostlikelyexplanationis,thatthemultiplestructuralgenes,whichnormallymustbeinvolvedintheproductionofthecrystallins,arenotexpresseduptothistimeinthemutant.Thecombinationofmorphologicalandbiochemicaldefectssuggeststhatthegeneinvolvedinthemutationsomehowfunctionsinthecontroloflensdifferentiation.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）