Abstract

The eye lens is responsible for focusing and transmitting light to the retina. The lens does this in the absence of organelles yet maintains transparency for at least five decades before onset of age-related nuclear cataract (ARNC). It is hypothesized that oxidative stress contributes significantly to ARNC formation. It is additionally hypothesized that transparency is maintained by a microcirculation system (MCS) that delivers antioxidants to the lens nucleus and exports small molecule waste. Common data-ependent acquisition (DDA) methods are hindered by dynamic range of lens protein expression and provide limited context to age-related changes in the lens. In this study we utilized data-independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry to analyze the urea insoluble, membrane protein fractions of 16 human lenses subdivided into three spatially distinct lens regions to characterize age-related changes, particularly concerning the lens MCS and oxidative stress response. In this pilot cohort, we measured 4,788 distinct protein groups, 46,681 peptides, and 7,592 deamidated sequences, more than in any previous human lens DDA approach. Our results reveal age-related changes previously known in lens biology and expand on these findings, taking advantage of the rich dataset afforded by DIA. Principally, we demonstrate that a significant proteome remodeling event occurs at approximately 50 years of age, resulting in metabolic preference for anaerobic glycolysis established with organelle degradation, decreased abundance of protein networks involved in calcium-dependent cell-cell contacts while retaining networks related to oxidative stress response. Further, we identified multiple antioxidant transporter proteins not previously detected in the human lens and describe their spatiotemporal and age-related abundance changes. Finally, we demonstrate that aquaporin-5, among other proteins, is modified with age by PTMs including deamidation and truncation. We suggest that the continued accumulation of each of these age-related outcomes in proteome remodeling contribute to decreased fiber cell permeability and result in ARNC formation.