α-Crystallin is a lens protein that contains two homologous subunits: αA- and αB-crystallins. α-Crystallin displays chaperone-like activity and plays an important role in maintaining lens transparency. It has been noted that in diabetic conditions of rats there is a decline in the chaperone activity of α-Crystallin. Research has shown that a dietary antioxidant, curcumin, can prevent this loss of chaperone activity.
β-Crystallin is the most heterogeneous of the crystallin classes, with at least six different gene products, at least ten different post-translational modifications, and quaternary structure variants from dimers to octamers. However, all sequences are highly conserved through evolution.
α-Crystallin is a small heat-shock protein that has chaperone-like activity, preventing protein aggregation in vitro. Point mutations in α-crystallin genes are believed to be responsible for hereditary cataract development.
