Proteins in the degenerative retina of C3H mice: deficiency of a cyclic-nucleotide phosphodiesterase and opsin.

Abstract

Abstract— The protein patterns from retinae of mice with inherited blindness (C3H/HeJ) were compared with those from normal (DBA/1J) retinae during postnatal maturation. The number of protein bands, as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulphate, increased in the normal retina with development and, by adulthood, 30 bands of protein were observed, with molecular weights ranging from 13,500 to 105,000 daltons. Four bands of retinal protein were suggested to be histones, and one was identified as tubulin. The patterns of protein bands from the immature C3H retinae were similar to those from the DBA retinae but, by adulthood, the pattern from the C3H retina was deficient in three bands of protein, two of which were identified as opsin and a cyclic‐nucleotide phosphodiesterase.