[Gamma- and beta-crystallin gene activation during lens morphogenesis in mice].

Lens anlages from 10-day-old mouse embryos exposed to the treatment with actinomycin D during one hour were cultivated for 15, 18 or 20 hours. Expression of gamma- and beta-crystalline genes was studied by the indirect immunofluorescence technique. It is shown that the activation of gamma- and beta-crystalline genes took place in the first stages of the formation of lens fibers, when the cells of the proximal wall of the lens vesicle were undergoing the last mitotic cycle.