Fig. 3

Auto-adhesion by MIPfun is not required for lens transparency, optics, and lens nucleus centralization. Representative lenses from adult aqp0a?/? mutants (A) (SL = 23.8 mm), aqp0a?/? mutants overexpressing MIPfun (B), (SL = 24.7 mm) or aqp0a?/? mutants overexpressing an auto-adhesive defective MIPfunN110T (C) (SL = 23.9 mm) were imaged through the optical axis under bright field (BF) or dark field (DF) illumination. Lens defects evident in aqp0a?/? mutants (A), as well as the optical defects when focusing a grid. The optical properties were improved by overexpression of MIPfun (B) or MIPfunN110T (C). (D) Both MIPfun or MIPfunN110T increased the frequency of normal phenotypes in adult fish SL > 20 mm, with no cataract observed. Refer to Supplementary Figure S1 for phenotype frequency by developmental stage. The same lenses from A to C were imaged perpendicular to the optical axis displayed the relative localization of the lens nucleus (E?G). (H) Overexpression of MIPfunN110T results in the lens nucleus centralizing closer to 0.0) like seen in MIPfun, compared to aqp0a?/? mutants, where the lens nucleus fails to centralize. The mean crossectional lens nucleus localization is statistically different at mid and longer SL between aqp0a?/? and in transgenics overexpressing MIPfunN110T (P = 0.000), as is the slope of the trends (P = 0.001). At shorter SL, the mean nucleus localization is similar between aqp0a?/? and MIPfunN110T overexpressing mutants. Scale bars = 500 µm.