Doctor of Philosophy

 Major in Chemistry

2016-2023

Degree Expected in 12-16-2023

PTMs in aging lenses and age-related nuclear cataracts may cause a change in solubility of protein regions if not the entire proteins, which may make age-related aggregation more likely to occur.

Key Takeaways:

-Peptides are more likely to be modified with dehydroalanine (DHA) than dehydrobutyrine (DHB).

-Proteins with DHA and DHB are more likely to be among the urea-insoluble fractions.

-Non-modified counterpart peptide sequences are more likely to be in the water- or urea-soluble fractions depending on the sequence and protein.

-DHA- and DHB-modified peptides can display trends, such as DHA or DHB levels that increase with age-related nuclear cataracts only, age or age-related nuclear cataracts, or neither age nor age-related nuclear cataracts.