No abstract

We systematically analyzed the capability of the major cytosolic chaperones of Escherichia coli to cope with protein misfolding and aggregation during heat stress in vivo and in cell extracts. Under physiological heat stress conditions, only the DnaK system efficiently prevented the aggregation of thermolabile proteins, a surprisingly high number of 150-200 species, corresponding to 15-25% of detected proteins. Identification of thermolabile DnaK substrates by mass spectrometry revealed that they comprise 80% of the large (≥90 kDa) but only 18% of the small (≤30 kDa) cytosolic proteins and include essential proteins. The DnaK system in addition acts with ClpB to form a bi-chaperone system that quantitatively solubilizes aggregates of most of these proteins. Efficient solubilization also occurred in an in vivo order-of-addition experiment in which aggregates were formed prior to induction of synthesis of the bi-chaperone system. Our data indicate that large-sized proteins are most vulnerable to thermal unfolding and aggregation, and that the DnaK system has central, dual protective roles for these proteins by preventing their aggregation and, cooperatively with ClpB, mediating their disaggregation.

A major activity of molecular chaperones is to prevent aggregation and refold misfolded proteins. However, when allowed to form, protein aggregates are refolded poorly by most chaperones. We show here that the sequential action of two Escherichia coli chaperone systems, ClpB and DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE, can efficiently solubilize excess amounts of protein aggregates and refold them into active proteins. Measurements of aggregate turbidity, Congo red, and 4,4-dianilino-1,1-binaphthyl-5,5-disulfonic acid binding, and of the disaggregation͞refolding kinetics by using a specific ClpB inhibitor, suggest a mechanism where (i) ClpB directly binds protein aggregates, ATP induces structural changes in ClpB, which (ii) increase hydrophobic exposure of the aggregates and (iii) allow DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE to bind and mediate dissociation and refolding of solubilized polypeptides into native proteins. This efficient mechanism, whereby chaperones can catalytically solubilize and refold a wide variety of large and stable protein aggregates, is a major addition to the molecular arsenal of the cell to cope with protein damage induced by stress or pathological states.Hsp104 ͉ ClpB ͉ DnaK ͉ Congo red ͉ protein disaggregation

In vitro reconstitution of active ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) from unfolded polypeptides is facilitated by the molecular chaperones: chaperonin-60 from Escherichia coli (groEL), yeast mitochondria (hsp60) or chloroplasts (Rubisco sub-unit-binding protein), together with chaperonin-10 from E. coli (groES), and Mg-ATP. Because chaperonins are ubiquitous, a conserved Mg-ATP-dependent mechanism exists that uses the chaperonins to facilitate the folding of some other proteins.