Molecular signatures of long-lived proteins: autolytic cleavage adjacent to serine residues

Shih-Ping Su, Brian Lyons, Michael Friedrich, Jason D. McArthur, Xiaomin Song, Dylan Xavier, Roger J. W. Truscott, John A. Aquilina

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    26 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The centre of the human lens, which is composed of proteins that were synthesized prior to birth, is an ideal model for the evaluation of long-term protein stability and processes responsible for the degradation of macromolecules. By analysing the sequences of peptides present in human lens nuclei, characteristic features of intrinsic protein instability were determined. Prominent was the cleavage on the N-terminal side of serine residues. Despite accounting for just 9% of the amino acid composition of crystallins, peptides with N-terminal Ser represented one-quarter of all peptides. Nonenzymatic cleavage at Ser could be reproduced by incubating peptides at elevated temperatures. Serine residues may thus represent susceptible sites for autolysis in polypeptides exposed to physiological conditions over a period of years. Once these sites are cleaved, other chemical processes result in progressive removal or 'laddering' of amino acid residues from newly exposed N- and C-termini. As N-terminal Ser peptides originated from several crystallins with unrelated sequences, this may represent a general feature of long-lived proteins.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1125-1127
    Number of pages3
    JournalAging Cell
    Volume11
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

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