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Functional Amyloid Protection In The Eye Lens: Retention Of Α-Crystallin Molecular Chaperone Activity After Modification Into Amyloid Fibrils, Megan Garvey, Heath Ecroyd, Nicholas J. Ray, Juliet A. Gerrard, John A. Carver

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Amyloid fibril formation occurs from a wide range of peptides and proteins and is typically associated with a loss of protein function and/or a gain of toxic function, as the native structure of the protein undergoes major alteration to form a cross β-sheet array. It is now well recognised that some amyloid fibrils have a biological function, which has led to increased interest in the potential that these so-called functional amyloids may either retain the function of the native protein, or gain function upon adopting a fibrillar structure. Herein, we investigate the molecular chaperone ability of α-crystallin, the predominant eye …