Date of Award

1-1-2019

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Chemistry

Content Description

1 online resource (xiii, 117 pages) : color illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Jayanti Pande

Committee Members

Jayanti Pande, Alexander Shekhtman, Li Niu, John Welch, Chunyu Wang

Keywords

alpha-crystallin, chaperone, lens, melittin, NMR, substrate, Crystalline lens, Cataract, Molecular chaperones

Subject Categories

Chemistry

Abstract

The α-crystallins (αA- and αB-crystallin isoforms) from the ocular lens are small heat shock proteins and molecular chaperones, widely believed to play a significant role in protecting the lens from cataract. Mutations and modifications on human αA- and αB-crystallin (HAA and HAB, respectively) are linked to a variety of diseases, including cataract formation, neuropathological protein folding disorders, and many others. It is believed that HAA and HAB prevent the aggregation of other lens proteins. However, the structural and thermodynamic details of the chaperone-substrate (aka “client”) interaction are sparse. Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation is to reveal structural and thermodynamic aspects of such interaction, using a model substrate, the 26-residue peptide melittin.

Included in

Chemistry Commons

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