Figure 2. Activation of protease activity in recombinant βA3-crystallin following treatment with sodium deoxycholate or CHAPS. A: The βA3-crystallin preparations (200 μg), treated with sodium deoxycholate or CHAPS, showed protease activity after HPLC fractionation whereas no activity was observed in the detergent-untreated crystallin fraction. B: On SDS–PAGE analysis of the column fractions containing protease activity, two species of 22 and 27 kDa were observed with an absence of the parent 31 kDa βA3-crystallin species. Results suggested a degradation of βA3-crystallin upon activation of its protease activity.