Deamidation of Human γS-Crystallin Increases Attractive Protein Interactions: Implications for Cataract.

Deamidation of proteins is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications found upon aging, and in age-onset diseases. Specific asparagine and glutamine residues are often selectively deamidated during this process. In the human lens, deamidation has been shown to occur in many crystallins, but it is not clear how these deamidated proteins lead to lens opacity or cataract.