Figure 4.

Role of heterologous, short-range interactions of lens crystallins in lens transparency. The figure shows the role of posttranslational modifications in changes in short-range order and/or formation of high molecular weight aggregates that result in decreased transparency and eventual opacity. Also shown is the putative role of α-crystallin chaperone activity in prevention of transparency loss, and the expression of mutant proteins that circumvent the age-related process.