Controlling Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of Cold-Adapted Crystallin Proteins from the Antarctic Toothfish.

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of proteins is important to a variety of biological processes both functional and deleterious, including the formation of membraneless organelles, molecular condensations that sequester or release molecules in response to stimuli, and the early stages of disease-related protein aggregation. In the protein-rich, crowded environment of the eye lens, LLPS manifests as cold cataract. We characterize the LLPS behavior of six structural γ-crystallins from the eye lens of the Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni, whose intact lenses resist cold cataract in subzero waters. Phase separation of these proteins is not strongly correlated with thermal stability, aggregation propensity, or cross-species chaperone protection from heat denaturation. Instead, LLPS is driven by protein-protein interactions involving charged residues. The critical temperature of the phase transition can be tuned over a wide temperature range by selective substitution of surface residues, suggesting general principles for controlling this phenomenon, even in compactly folded proteins.

Protein self-assembly following in situ expression in artificial and mammalian cells.

The self-assembly of proteins has been widely studied in controlled in vitro conditions, and more recently in biological environments. The self-assembly of proteins in biology can be a feature of the pathogenesis of protein condensation disease, or can occur during normal physiological function, for example during the formation of intracellular non-membrane bound organelles. To determine the mechanisms for the assembly process fully, controlled in vitro experiments using purified protein solutions are often required. However, making direct connections between insights gathered from controlled experiments and those in complex biological environments remains a challenge. Using the P23T mutant of human γD-crystallin, a protein associated with congenital cataract, we have demonstrated that the equilibrium solubility boundary and solution behavior measured using phase diagrams of purified protein solutions is consistent with the assembly of the protein expressed in cell-free expression medium in artificial cells (without fluorescent labelling) and condensates formed in mammalian cells, thereby directly connecting in vitro measurements with those performed under physiological conditions.

Two affected siblings with nuclear cataract associated with a novel missense mutation in the CRYGD gene.

PURPOSE: To identify the disease locus for nuclear congenital cataract in a nonconsanguineous family with two affected members. METHODS: One family with two affected members with congenital cataract and 170 normal controls were examined. DNA from leukocytes and bucal swabs was isolated to analyze the CRYGA-D cluster genes and microsatellite markers D2S325, D2S2382, and D2S126, and to discard paternity through gene scan with several highly polymorphic markers. RESULTS: DNA sequencing analysis of the CRYGA-D cluster genes of the two affected members showed a novel heterozygous missense mutation c.320A > C within exon 3 of the CRYGD gene. This transversion mutation resulted in the substitution of glutamic acid 107 by an alanine (E107A). Analysis of the two unaffected members of the family and the normal parents showed a normal sequence of the CRYGA-D cluster genes. This mutation was not found in a group of 170 unrelated controls. We consider that it is unlikely that this abnormal allele represents a rare polymorphism. DNA analysis showed no evidence for non-paternity while genotyping indicated that the haplotype of the mother co-segregated with the disease. CONCLUSIONS: In this study we describe the mutation c.320A > C (E107A) in the CRYGD gene associated with nuclear congenital cataract. Haplotype analysis strongly suggests that the origin of the mutation was transmitted through the mother.

γS-crystallin proteins from the Antarctic nototheniid toothfish: a model system for investigating differential resistance to chemical and thermal denaturation.

The γS1- and γS2-crystallins, structural eye lens proteins from the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni), are homologues of the human lens protein γS-crystallin. Although γS1 has the higher thermal stability of the two, it is more susceptible to chemical denaturation by urea. The lower thermodynamic stability of both toothfish crystallins relative to human γS-crystallin is consistent with the current picture of how proteins from organisms endemic to perennially cold environments have achieved low-temperature functionality via greater structural flexibility. In some respects, the sequences of γS1- and γS2-crystallin are typical of psychrophilic proteins; however, their amino acid compositions also reflect their selection for a high refractive index increment. Like their counterparts in the human lens and those of mesophilic fish, both toothfish crystallins are relatively enriched in aromatic residues and methionine and exiguous in aliphatic residues. The sometimes contradictory requirements of selection for cold tolerance and high refractive index make the toothfish crystallins an excellent model system for further investigation of the biophysical properties of structural proteins.