Interaction of lens alpha and gamma crystallins during aging of the bovine lens

Heterologous, noncovalent interactions of lens crystallins, such as between alpha and gamma crystallin, are thought to play a key role in the transparent properties of the lens. To determine possible interactions between these two types of crystallins, bovine gamma B crystallin in its native state was purified from whole fetal lenses or from the nucleus of aged bovine lenses, and the purified protein was passed over immobilized alpha crystallin, using a surface plasmon resonance instrument (BIAcore 3000) to obtain refractive units (RU) of gamma B binding at equilibrium. The results demonstrate low binding of gamma B crystallin purified from fetal lenses, but higher binding of the same gamma species purified from aged lenses. Together, these results demonstrate that under equilibrium conditions, gamma B crystallin from the aging bovine lens shows increased noncovalent associations with alpha crystallins, consistent with the possibility that such interactions play an important role in the transparent properties of the aged lens.