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Several mechanisms have been proposed for the way in which glucose and its metabolites cause cataract, retinopathy and other complications of diabetes, the most convincing being glycation. Glycation, the reaction of sugars with free amino groups of proteins, is one of a variety of non-enzymic post-translational modifications. The aim of the present study was to identify some of the most reactive proteins in the lens when incubated under physiological conditions. Fresh intact bovine lenses were incubated with [14C]glucose in a conventional tissue-culture medium with added antibiotics. After 3 and 6 days of incubation, the water-soluble proteins were separated by size-exclusion chromatography. Glycated proteins from the water-soluble fractions were separated by using a sugar affinity column (Affi-Gel 601). Then the radioactive fractions were identified on SDS/polyacrylamide gels. In addition, the whole bovine lenses were incubated with 10 mM fructose and glucose for 3 and 6 days. The glycated proteins from the water-soluble fractions in parallel with the radioactive fractions were separated by affinity chromatography, and were identified further by amino-acid sequencing. A progressive uptake of radioactive label showed that the majority of proteins incorporating both glucose and fructose were water-soluble fractions. Chromatography and SDS/polyacrylamide gel results showed that alpha- and gamma-crystallin and some proteins of a mean molecular mass of 36-37 kDa incorporated sugars early during incubation. After 6 days of incubation, more crystallins were glycated compared with 3 days, in particular beta-crystallin. Affinity-chromatography results indicated that proteins with subunit masses of 36 kDa and 20 kDa were possibly radiolabelled at an early stage. The purified glycated proteins following incubation with both glucose and fructose, which corresponded to 20 kDa and 36 kDa bands on SDS/polyacrylamide gels, were sequenced by Edman degradation. N-terminal sequences of both 20 kDa bands were Gly-Lys-Ile-Thr, characteristic of gamma-crystallins, but the N-termini of both 36 kDa bands were blocked. Further sequencing after digestion of 36 kDa bands with trypsin and running on HPLC revealed that the glucose sample gave the peptide sequences as Gly-Glu-Tyr-Pro-Asp-Tyr-Gln-Gln and Tyr-Glu-Leu-Pro-Asn-Tyr-Arg, which match with bovine gammaIIIb-crystallin. The peptide sequence Tyr-Glu-Leu-Pro-Asn-Tyr-Arg is only present in the published sequence of bovine gammaIIIb-crystallin and not in any other type of gamma-crystallin. The fructose sample gave the peptide sequences Ile-Thr-Phe-Tyr-Glu-Asp-Arg, Arg-Gly-Asp-Tyr-Pro-Asp-Tyr-Gln-Gln-Trp, Gln-Tyr-Leu-Leu-Arg and Val-Val-Asp-Leu-Tyr, which all matched with bovine gammaIIIa-crystallin. The sequence Val-Val-Asp-Leu-Tyr only appears in the sequence of bovine gammaIIIa-crystallin. gammaIII-Crystallin is the most susceptible lens protein to glycation. The primary target of glucose is gammaIIIb-crystallin, whereas that of fructose is gammaIIIa-crystallin. The early glycation of gammaIII-crystallin by glucose and fructose could result in structural alterations, leading to aggregation of crystallin and eventually cataract formation.

γIII-Crystallin is the primary target of glycation in the bovine lens incubated under physiological conditions