Proteomic Characterization of the Rhesus Macaque Lens Nucleus: Similarity to Human Lens, Age Effects on Protein...

Proteomes of lens nuclei from young (4 years old) and old (15-16 years old) rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were analyzed to determine similarity of the proteomic profile to that of human lenses, age-related differences in protein solubility, and association of various post-translational modifications with age and protein solubility.

Lens core proteins were separated into water-soluble and water-insoluble fractions using aqueous buffer and centrifugation. The water-insoluble fraction was solubilized using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Proteins were processed using S-trap columns, and peptide digests were analyzed using high-resolution, label-free data-dependent acquisition (DDA) proteomics. Open modification searches were performed using MSFragger to identify possible post-translational modifications (PTMs). The number of modified peptide tandem mass spectra confidently assigned to samples by age or solubility were compared to find PTMs with statistically significant count differences.

The overall proteomic profile of rhesus macaque lenses was very similar to human lenses, consisting of 80.2% crystallins, 1.1% beaded filament proteins, and 18.7% other proteins. The crystallin fraction consisted of 27% alpha crystallins, 67.6% beta/gamma crystallins, and 5.4% taxon-specific psi crystallin. Glycolytic enzymes, beta/gamma crystallins, and a few glutathione-related enzymes were found to have age-related shifts to the water-insoluble fraction. There were significant differences in deamidation, dioxidation, carbamylation, carboxymethylation, and trioxidation based on age and/or solubility of proteins.

These data indicate a high level of conformity between rhesus macaque and human lens proteomes, and a few key differences. We identified several age-related differences in protein solubility and PTM that may contribute to lens pathology.