Dataset Information

Spatial distributions of phosphorylated membrane proteins aquaporin 0 and MP20 across young and aged human lenses.

ABSTRACT: In the human ocular lens it is now realized that post-translational modifications can alter protein function and/or localization in fiber cells that no longer synthesize proteins. The specific sites of post-translational modification to the abundant ocular lens membrane proteins AQP0 and MP20 have been previously identified and their functional effects are emerging. To further understand how changes in protein function and/or localization induced by these modifications alter lens homeostasis, it is necessary to determine the spatial distributions of these modifications across the lens. In this study, a quantitative LC-MS approach was used to determine the spatial distributions of phosphorylated AQP0 and MP20 peptides from manually dissected, concentric layers of fiber cells from young and aged human lenses. The absolute amounts of phosphorylation were determined for AQP0 Ser235 and Ser229 and for MP20 Ser170 in fiber cells from the lens periphery to the lens center. Phosphorylation of AQP0 Ser229 represented a minor portion of the total phosphorylated AQP0. Changes in spatial distributions of phosphorylated APQ0 Ser235 and MP20 Ser170 correlated with regions of physiological interest in aged lenses, specifically, where barriers to water transport and extracellular diffusion form.

SUBMITTER: Gutierrez DB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5791148 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Spatial distributions of phosphorylated membrane proteins aquaporin 0 and MP20 across young and aged human lenses.

Gutierrez Danielle B DB Garland Donita L DL Schwacke John H JH Hachey David L DL Schey Kevin L KL

Experimental eye research 20160623

In the human ocular lens it is now realized that post-translational modifications can alter protein function and/or localization in fiber cells that no longer synthesize proteins. The specific sites of post-translational modification to the abundant ocular lens membrane proteins AQP0 and MP20 have been previously identified and their functional effects are emerging. To further understand how changes in protein function and/or localization induced by these modifications alter lens homeostasis, it ...[more]

PMID: 27339748

Similar Datasets

Project description:PURPOSE: Post-translational modification (PTM) of lens proteins is believed to play various roles in age-related lens function and development. Among the different types of PTM, phosphorylation is most noteworthy to play a major role in the regulation of various biosignaling pathways in relation to metabolic processes and cellular functions. The present study reported the quantitative analysis of the in vivo phosphoproteomics profiles of human normal and cataractous lenses with the aim of identifying specific phosphorylation sites which may provide insights into the physiologic significance of phosphorylation in relation to cataract formation. METHODS: To improve detection sensitivity of low abundant proteins, we first adopted SDS-gel electrophoresis fractionation of lens extracts to identify and compare the protein compositions between normal and cataractous lenses, followed by tryptic digestion, enrichment of phosphopeptides by immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and nano-liquid chromatography coupled tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS) analysis. RESULTS: By comprehensively screening of the phosphoproteome in normal and cataractous lenses, we identified 32 phosphoproteins and 73 phosphorylated sites. The most abundantly phosphorylated proteins are two subunits of ?-crystallin, i.e., ?B1-crystallin (12%) and ?B2-crystallin (12%). Moreover, serine was found to be the most abundantly phosphorylated residue (72%) in comparison with threonine (24%) and tyrosine (4%) in the lens phosphoproteome. The quantitative analysis revealed significant and distinct changes of 19 phosphoproteins corresponding to 28 phosphorylated sites between these two types of human lenses, including 20 newly discovered novel phosphorylation sites on lens proteins. CONCLUSIONS: The shotgun phosphoproteomics approach to characterize protein phosphorylation may be adapted and extended to the comprehensive analysis of other types of post-translational modification of lens proteins in vivo. The identification of these novel phosphorylation sites in lens proteins that showed differential expression in the cataractous lens may bear some unknown physiologic significance and provide insights into phosphorylation-related human eye diseases, which warrant further investigation in the future.

Project description:Maintenance of proper biomechanics of the eye lens is important for its structural integrity and for the process of accommodation to focus near and far objects. Several studies have shown that specialized cytoskeletal systems such as the beaded filament (BF) and spectrin-actin networks contribute to mammalian lens biomechanics; mutations or deletion in these proteins alters lens biomechanics. Aquaporin 0 (AQP0), which constitutes ?45% of the total membrane proteins of lens fiber cells, has been shown to function as a water channel and a structural cell-to-cell adhesion (CTCA) protein. Our recent ex vivo study on AQP0 knockout (AQP0 KO) mouse lenses showed the CTCA function of AQP0 could be crucial for establishing the refractive index gradient. However, biomechanical studies on the role of AQP0 are lacking. The present investigation used wild type (WT), AQP5 KO (AQP5(-/-)), AQP0 KO (heterozygous KO: AQP0(+/-); homozygous KO: AQP0(-/-); all in C57BL/6J) and WT-FVB/N mouse lenses to learn more about the role of fiber cell AQPs in lens biomechanics. Electron microscopic images exhibited decreases in lens fiber cell compaction and increases in extracellular space due to deletion of even one allele of AQP0. Biomechanical assay revealed that loss of one or both alleles of AQP0 caused a significant reduction in the compressive load-bearing capacity of the lenses compared to WT lenses. Conversely, loss of AQP5 did not alter the lens load-bearing ability. Compressive load-bearing at the suture area of AQP0(+/-) lenses showed easy separation while WT lens suture remained intact. These data from KO mouse lenses in conjunction with previous studies on lens-specific BF proteins (CP49 and filensin) suggest that AQP0 and BF proteins could act co-operatively in establishing normal lens biomechanics. We hypothesize that AQP0, with its prolific expression at the fiber cell membrane, could provide anchorage for cytoskeletal structures like BFs and together they help to confer fiber cell shape, architecture and integrity. To our knowledge, this is the first report identifying the involvement of an aquaporin in lens biomechanics. Since accommodation is required in human lenses for proper focusing, alteration in the adhesion and/or water channel functions of AQP0 could contribute to presbyopia.

Project description:Studies of membrane protein structure and function often rely on reconstituting the protein into lipid bilayers through the formation of liposomes. Many measurements conducted in proteoliposomes, e.g. transport rates, single-molecule dynamics, monomer-oligomer equilibrium, require some understanding of the occupancy statistics of the liposome population for correct interpretation of the results. In homogenous liposomes, this is easy to calculate as the act of protein incorporation can be described by the Poisson distribution. However, in reality, liposomes are heterogeneous, which alters the statistics of occupancy in several ways. Here, we determine the liposome occupancy distribution for membrane protein reconstitution while considering liposome size heterogeneity. We calculate the protein occupancy for a homogenous population of liposomes with radius r = 200 nm, representing an idealization of vesicles extruded through 400 nm pores and compare it to the right-skewed distribution of 400 nm 2:1 POPE:POPG vesicles. As is the case for E. coli polar lipids, this synthetic composition yields a sub-population of small liposomes, 25-30 nm in radius with a long tail of larger vesicles. Previously published microscopy data of the co-localization of the CLC-ec1 Cl-/H+ transporter with liposomes, and vesicle occupancy measurements using functional transport assays, shows agreement with the heterogeneous 2:1 POPE:POPG population. Next, distributions of 100 nm and 30 nm extruded 2:1 POPE:POPG liposomes are measured by cryo-electron microscopy, demonstrating that extrusion through smaller pores does not shift the peak, but reduces polydispersity arising from large liposomes. Single-molecule photobleaching analysis of CLC-ec1-Cy5 shows the 30 nm extruded population increases the 'Poisson-dilution' range, reducing the probability of vesicles with more than one protein at higher protein/lipid densities. These results demonstrate that the occupancy distributions of membrane proteins into vesicles can be accurately predicted in heterogeneous populations with experimental knowledge of the liposome size distribution. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Molecular biophysics of membranes and membrane proteins.

Dataset Information

Spatial distributions of phosphorylated membrane proteins aquaporin 0 and MP20 across young and aged human lenses.

Publications

Spatial distributions of phosphorylated membrane proteins aquaporin 0 and MP20 across young and aged human lenses.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure