The critical role of the central hydrophobic core (residues 71-77) of amyloid-forming αA66-80 peptide in α-crystallin aggregation: a systematic proline replacement study.

Age-related cataract formation is marked by the progressive aggregation of lens proteins. The formation of protein aggregates in the aging lens has been shown to correlate with the progressive accumulation of a range of post-translational crystallin modifications, including oxidation, deamidation, racemization, methylation, acetylation, N- and C-terminal truncations and low molecular weight (LMW) crystallin fragments. We found that an αA-crystallin-derived peptide, αA66-80 (1.8 kDa), is a prominent LMW peptide concentrated in water-insoluble fractions of the aging lens. The peptide has amyloid-like properties and preferentially insolubilizes α-crystallin from lens-soluble fractions. It binds at multiple sites and forms a hydrophobically driven non-covalent complex with α-crystallin to induce α-crystallin aggregation. To define the specific role of the αA66-80 peptide in age-related protein aggregation and cataract formation, it is important to understand the mechanisms by which this peptide acts. We used scanning proline mutagenesis to identify which particular sequences of the peptide drive it to form amyloid-like fibrils and induce α-crystallin aggregation. The secondary structure and the aggregate morphology of the peptides were determined using circular dichroism and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. Peptides were also tested for their ability to induce α-crystallin aggregation. We found that proline replacement of any residue in the sequence FVIFLDV, which corresponds to residues 71-77, led to an absence of both fibril formation and α-crystallin aggregation. The apparently critical role of 71-77 residues in αA66-80 explains their significance in the self-assembly processes of the peptide and further provide insights into the mechanism of peptide-induced aggregation. Our findings may have applications in the design of peptide aggregation inhibitors.