Basic Information

Symbol
CRYAB
RNA class
mRNA
Alias
Crystallin Alpha B HSPB5 CRYA2 Heat Shock Protein Family B Member 5 Renal Carcinoma Antigen NY-REN-27 Heat Shock Protein Beta-5 Rosenthal Fiber Component Alpha-Crystallin B Chain Epididymis Secretory Protein Li 101 Heat-Shock 20 KD Like-Protein Crystallin, Alpha B Alpha(B)-Crystallin HEL-S-101 CTRCT16 CMD1II CTPP2 MFM2A MFM2B HspB5 MFM2
Location (GRCh38)
11:111908564-111923722
UCSC Genome Browser Search in Marker Scope
Forensic tag(s)
Postmortem interval inference
External database
HGNC NCBI Ensembl OMIM UniProt GTEx

MANE select

Transcript ID
NM_001289808.2
Sequence length
774.0 nt
GC content
0.5000

Secondary Structure

Generated by RNAfold
Minimum free energy (MFE) structure:
Secondary structure that contributes a minimum of free energy.
Ensemble properties:
Thermodynamic properties of the Boltzmann ensemble.
Minimum free energy
-202.30 kcal/mol
Thermodynamic ensemble
Free energy: -216.81 kcal/mol
Frequency: 0.0000
Diversity: 273.50
MFE Structure Visualization
Structure Prediction
MFE Structure Prediction
((.(((((((......)))))...)).))........((((.(((...((((...((.(((((.......)))))..)).........((((((....(((((((((((.(.((((((((........))))))))...).))))).....((((.(((((((((((((((((...((((((((((((.((...(((((.......(((((.(((...((((.((......)))))).))).))).)))).))).)))))))(((((.....)))))...((((....(((....)))...)))).)).)))))))))..)))))))))))))...))))..((((((((.....))).....))))).(((((((......)))))))...)))))).....))))))....((((((((...(((((((.......................))).))))...))))))))((((((.(..(((.....((((((.((((...)))).(((..(((...(((.(.(((....))).).)))...)))..)))..((((....(((((((.........)))))))..)))).((((((.....))))))))))))))))))))))......)))).))).))))(((((((((((..((((.....(((....)))..))))..))))).............))))))........((((...(((((((.(((((.................))))).))))))).)))).
Thermodynamic Ensemble Prediction
({,(((((((......)))))...,}.}}........,,,{,{,...{((,.....|.|||||....,,{||||,..{|,{{,,{{{{,{{((({,,((((({((((({.({((((((((...,,,,,|||||||||.,|,|||||||{{,{,((,((((((({((((({(({...{(((({({{((,.((...(({,,,,{.,..,,,{|.|||...{{{{.{|,.....}}}})),))).,})})}}),)}).)))))))}||||||,,,},,,}}}}||||,.{|{...,,,.))}},,,,))))})))))))),..))))))))))})).},)},,,,{{{{((((.....}}}}..,.)))}}.{((((({...,,,}}}}}}}}},))),}|,,({{{(({......((((((((...(((((((.......................))).)))).,.))))))))}}.}})))..,|||{{,,|||,.,.|||||.}}}}},|}||{|{....,,,.{{((((..(((..{,({{{,..(((((....)))))...((((((,..,.....,})))))).......,{{{{{.....}))))})))))..)))..)))}.})..{{{{..,,)))).}|||{{{((({{..{{{{,,,..|||,.,,))}..}}}}..}}|||............,)}))),.,,|,...((((...(((((((.(((((.................))))).))))))).)))).

Transcripts

ID Sequence Length GC content
NM_001289807.1 NCBI
AGGAGGAGGAGGCACCAAACGGCCUGGGUGGAUAGAAGGGGGACAAGGA… 964 nt 0.5093
NM_001289808.2 NCBI
GAAGGAGCUGACCAGCCAGCUGACCCCUCACACUCACCUAGCCACCAUG… 774 nt 0.5000
NM_001330379.1 NCBI
GGAGUCAGAGAGGCAGCAGAUGCCAGGCUUGCACCCAUCCUUGCGACUG… 571 nt 0.4746
NM_001368245.1 NCBI
AGAGAACUUUGUCUACAGAACAGGGAGCACUGAAUUUGCUCAGUGAGUA… 964 nt 0.4938
NM_001368246.1 NCBI
AGCAGAUGCCAGGCUUGCACCCAUCCUUGCGACUGGUCCCCUGGGUGAU… 817 nt 0.4553
NM_001885.3 NCBI
ACACCCAGGCCGGCAAAGAGCAGGUAUCAGCACUGCAAGCACCAAGUGU… 983 nt 0.5005
Summary

Mammalian lens crystallins are divided into alpha, beta, and gamma families. Alpha crystallins are composed of two gene products: alpha-A and alpha-B, for acidic and basic, respectively. Alpha crystallins can be induced by heat shock and are members of the small heat shock protein (HSP20) family. They act as molecular chaperones although they do not renature proteins and release them in the fashion of a true chaperone; instead they hold them in large soluble aggregates. These heterogeneous aggregates consist of 30-40 subunits; the alpha-A and alpha-B subunits have a 3:1 ratio, respectively. Two additional functions of alpha crystallins are an autokinase activity and participation in the intracellular architecture. The encoded protein has been identified as a moonlighting protein based on its ability to perform mechanistically distinct functions. Alpha-A and alpha-B gene products are differentially expressed; alpha-A is preferentially restricted to the lens and alpha-B is expressed widely in many tissues and organs. Elevated expression of alpha-B crystallin occurs in many neurological diseases; a missense mutation cosegregated in a family with a desmin-related myopathy. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2019]

Forensic Context

A study in mice demonstrated that the CRYAB gene is upregulated in oligodendrocyte-specific differentially expressed genes in response to increasing post-mortem interval, as part of a broader transcriptomic alteration in brain tissue [Guo et al. DOI:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.147708]. In a separate study on *Chrysomya megacephala* larvae, the CRYAB gene was identified as a down-regulated transcript in response to dietary oils, with its differential expression validated by RT-PCR and qRT-PCR [Zhang et al. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0063168].