Function
The main function of crystallins at least in the lens of the eye is probably to increase the refractive index while not obstructing light. However, this is not their only function. It is becoming increasingly clear that crystallins may have several metabolic and regulatory functions, both within the lens and in other parts of the body. More proteins containing βγ-crystallin domains have now been characterized as calcium binding proteins with Greek key motif as a novel calcium-binding motif.
Read more about this topic: Alpha Crystallin
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“The uses of travel are occasional, and short; but the best fruit it finds, when it finds it, is conversation; and this is a main function of life.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
““... The state’s one function is to give.
The bud must bloom till blowsy blown
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Unless ‘twould rather wilt than fade.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)