A comparative study of zeta-crystallin gene in four species with different levels of expression in the lens

Lens crystallins: gene recruitment and evolutionary dynamism

In a novel evolutionary process, enzymes and stress proteins have undergone direct gene recruitment as eye lens crystallins in a number of independent events. This may have allowed a dynamic response to changing visual environment during evolution. In spite of their diversity, many crystallins may share an origin in essential developmental processes such as cell elongation.