Methylglyoxal (MGO), a potent glycating agent, forms advanced glycation end products (AGEs) with proteins. Several diabetic complications including cataract are thought to be the result of accumulation of these protein-AGEs. alpha-Crystallin, molecular chaperone of the eye lens, plays an important role in maintaining the transparency of the lens by preventing the aggregation/inactivation of sev...

Type II restriction endonucleases Bam HI and Eco RI were covalently coupled to Sepharose. These insolubilized enzymes generated fragment patterns for several viral DNAs identical to those produced by the respective free enzymes. Conditions for optimal activity were similar for both bound and unbound forms of the enzymes. Insolubilization improved thermal stability of Bam HI and Eco RI. The boun...

PURPOSE To identify modified crystallins associated with aging of lens and produce two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) proteome maps of crystallins in mouse lens. METHODS Lens proteins from mice of increasing age or different strains were separated by either chromatography or 2-DE. Masses of whole proteins or tryptic peptides were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Changes in the abundance of ...

PURPOSE Lens alpha-crystallins, composed of two subunits of alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin, form low molecular weight (LMW) water soluble aggregates with an average molecular mass of approximately 800 kDa. In the intact lens, some of the alpha-crystallins are associated with even larger high-molecular-weight (HMW) aggregates which are thought to be precursors of components found in the water ins...