分子内分子伴侣--Pro肽在蛋白质折叠中的作用

在体内，许多蛋白质，如很多胞外蛋白酶、某些多肽激素等都以含前导肽的前体形式合成，前导肽在蛋白质折叠中具有分子伴侣的功能。为了与一般意义上的分子伴侣相区别，人们将对蛋白质折叠有帮助的前导肽称为分子内分子伴侣，分子内分子伴侣帮助蛋白质在折叠过程中克服高的能量障碍，某些蛋白质的分子内分子伴侣甚至促进其在氧化性折叠中二硫键的正确配对。     

分子伴侣及其在蛋白质折叠中的作用研究进展

蛋白质折叠是一个复杂的、动态的过程,蛋白质的折叠不是自发的,需要其他物质的帮助.了解分子伴侣在蛋白质折叠过程中的的作用,有助于进一步研究蛋白质折叠机制.本文介绍了分子伴侣及其分类,重点综述了各类分子伴侣在蛋白质折叠中的机制,并提出了研究分子伴侣在蛋白质折叠中的作用的重要意义.     

HSP70分子伴侣系统研究进展

综述了HSP70分子伴侣系统的晶体结构、功能及作用机理方面的研究进展.HSP70分子伴侣能够帮助细胞内新生蛋白的折叠和跨膜运输、蛋白质多聚体结构的装配和解装配,并能在胁迫下维持蛋白质的特殊构象,防止未折叠的蛋白质变性和使聚集的蛋白质溶解复性.所有这些活性均依赖于ATP调节的HSP70与底物蛋白中的疏水片段的相互作用.     

介导新生肽链折叠的胞质分子伴侣结构、功能及作用机制研究进展

分子伴侣是一类能够识别非天然蛋白并能协助其正确折叠、组装和转运的功能蛋白。最新研究发现,在原核或真核细胞中,不同结构、不同种类的分子伴侣形成了一个复杂的折叠系统,通过这个系统,蛋白质完成了从初步合成到形成具有生物活性的三维构象的过程,避免了折叠过程中多肽链的错误折叠、蛋白沉淀和有害物质的产生。文章综述了蛋白质折叠过程中不同种类分子伴侣组件的结构、功能和作用机制的研究进展,这些分子伴侣包括Hsp70、核糖体结合因子、伴侣素、前折叠素与Hsp90,并阐述了它们在蛋白质内稳态中的作用。     

具有分子伴侣功能的抗体

蛋白质的折叠问题一直是生物学研究的前沿之一，蛋白质稳态平衡的破坏与衰老及很多神经退行性疾病的发病机理密切相关，而蛋白质的正确折叠与蛋白质稳态在很大程度上取决于分子伴侣参与构建的复杂网络。许多研究表明，抗体可以作为分子伴侣促进蛋白质的正确折叠，并阻止蛋白质的异常聚集，抗体所具有的严格底物特异性使其具备了治疗特定蛋白质折叠病、帮助包涵体复性等应用潜力。本文简要介绍了分子伴侣的研究进展，详细阐述了具有分子伴侣功能的抗体及单链抗体的研究进展，最后重点讨论了可抑制蛋白质聚集的抗体的研究近况。     

邹承鲁先生与中国蛋白质折叠研究

<正>邹承鲁先生是近代中国生物化学的奠基人之一，一生致力于蛋白质结构与功能关系的研究，在细胞色素与呼吸链酶系、人工合成胰岛素、酶活性不可逆抑制动力学、酶活性部位的柔性以及蛋白质折叠和分子伴侣等不同领域都做出了重大贡献。1964年我从中国科学技术大学生物物理系毕业，被分配到中国科学院生物物理研究所。后有幸在邹先生实验室工作近20年，在邹先生的指导和帮助下，对胰岛素A、B链相互作用、蛋白质折叠以及帮助蛋白质折叠的分子伴侣和折叠酶开展了一些研究工作。     

本刊常务编委王志珍2001年新当选中国科学院院士

中国科学院生物物理研究所研究员 ,生物化学与分子生物学家 ,国家中青年有突出贡献专家 ,《中国生物化学与分子生物学报》常务编委王志珍 2 0 0 1年新当选中国科学院生物学部院士 .王志珍 (女 ) ,194 2年 7月生于上海 ,原藉江苏吴县 .196 4年毕业于中国科学技术大学生物物理系 ,后一直在中国科学院生物物理研究所工作 .在蛋白质折叠 ,折叠酶和分子伴侣 ;胰岛素Ａ、Ｂ链相互作用及重组等研究中做出重要贡献 :(1)提出“蛋白质二硫键异构酶既是酶又是分子伴侣”的假说 ,并为该酶固有的分子伴侣活性提供了充分的实验证据 ,进一步证实和区分了该…     

蛋白质折叠与装配研究新进展

蛋白质折叠与装配成天然状态的机制,过去根据离体复性实验观察认为是自组装,而近几年来的研究表明体内蛋白质的折叠 与装配并非如此,而是常常依赖于其它辅助因子和ＡＴＰ水解供能,为辅助性组装。这些辅助因子基本可概括为分子内伴侣、酶类和分子伴侣三大类。     

分子伴侣参与调控动、植物的发育和进化进程

近年来, 人们对分子伴侣的功能研究取得了很大进展, 阐明了它参与细胞新合成蛋白多肽的折叠、组装、运输和蛋白质的降解过程。在这些过程中, 伴随着分子伴侣表达量的高低变化, 细胞线粒体数量也会发生相应的变化。文章综述了分子伴侣参与调控动、植物的发育和进化进程, 如: 动、植物育性调控, 抗逆境能力提高及热休克蛋白—多肽复合物的肿瘤免疫治疗探索等。     

热休克蛋白60与肿瘤关系的研究进展

HSP60是一类进化上高度保守的蛋白质家族,生理状态时协助多肽或蛋白质的正确转位,折叠和装配,起“分子伴侣”的作用,在应激状态下,HSP60过表达或异位表达,作为一种自身抗原被免疫系统识别,诱发机体的保护性免疫应答,也可作为一种信号分子,在信号转导中发挥作用,近年来研究证实HSP60在自然免疫性疾病、传染病、动脉粥样硬化及慢性感染的发病中均发挥重要的作用。     

Contribution of molecular chaperones to protein folding in the cytoplasm of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells

While it is clear that many unfolded proteins can attain their native state spontaneously in vitro, the efficiency of such folding is usually limited to conditions far removed from those encountered within cells. Two properties of the cellular environment are expected to enhance strongly the propensity of incompletely folded polypeptides to misfold and aggregate: the crowding effect caused by the high concentration of macromolecules, and the close proximity of nascent polypeptide chains emerging from polyribosomes. However, in the living cell, non-productive protein folding is in many, if not most, cases prevented by the action of a highly conserved set of proteins termed molecular chaperones. In the cytoplasm, the Hsp70 (heat-shock protein of 70 kDa) and chaperonin families of molecular chaperones appear to be the major contributors to efficient protein folding during both normal conditions and adverse conditions such as heat stress. Hsp70 chaperones recognize and shield short, hydrophobic peptide segments in the context of non-native polypeptides and probably promote folding by decreasing the concentration of aggregation-prone intermediates. In contrast, the chaperonins interact with and globally enclose collapsed folding intermediates in a central cavity where efficient folding can proceed in a protected environment. For a number of proteins, folding requires the co-ordinated action of both of these molecular chaperones.     

Interactions between the tomato spotted wilt virus movement protein and plant proteins showing homologies to myosin, kinesin and DnaJ-like chaperones

The non-structural protein encoded by the M RNA segment (NSm) of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) has been implicated in cell-to-cell movement of nucleocapsids through modified plasmodesmata. Recently, DnaJ-like proteins from Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) and Arabidopsis thaliana have been identified as NSm interacting host proteins, implying an involvement of molecular chaperones during systemic spread of the virus or other, presently unknown NSm-mediated virus functions. Examination of additional TSWV host plants and improvement of yeast two-hybrid interaction trap experiments led to the isolation of a DnaJ-like protein from Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato) and the identification of a protein from A. thaliana sharing some homologies with myosin and kinesin-like polypeptides. Sequence alignments of the tomato DnaJ-like protein unveiled the corresponding gene as an orthologue to the tobacco and A. thaliana DnaJ genes, substantiating that NSm interacting DnaJ-like polypeptides, identified from three different TSWV host species, apparently form a subgroup distinct from archetypical DnaJ chaperones. Increased levels of DnaJ-like proteins could be detected in TSWV systemically infected leaves and in plants exposed to heat shock, showing that the NSm interacting DnaJ-like chaperones are inducible upon biotic and abiotic stress. All together, the identification of DnaJ-like proteins and a protein resembling myosin and kinesin as NSm interacting plant proteins is in accordance with results accomplished for movement proteins from other plant attacking viruses showing an involvement of molecular chaperones and the cytoskeleton in at least intracellular trafficking.     

Pathways of chaperone-mediated protein folding in the cytosol

Cells are faced with the task of folding thousands of different polypeptides into a wide range of conformations. For many proteins, the folding process requires the action of molecular chaperones. In the cytosol of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, molecular chaperones of different structural classes form a network of pathways that can handle substrate polypeptides from the point of initial synthesis on ribosomes to the final stages of folding.     

The crystal structure of the putative peptide-binding fragment from the human Hsp40 protein Hdj1

Background  

The mechanism by which Hsp40 and other molecular chaperones recognize and interact with non-native polypeptides is a fundamental question. How Hsp40 co-operates with Hsp70 to facilitate protein folding is not well understood. To investigate the mechanisms, we determined the crystal structure of the putative peptide-binding fragment of Hdj1, a human member of the type II Hsp40 family.     

ERAD substrates: Which way out?

Global folding of polypeptides entering the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) starts as soon as they emerge from the narrow Sec61 translocon. Attainment of the native structure can take from several minutes to hours, depending on the gene product. Until then, non-native folding intermediates must be protected from molecular chaperones that recognize misfolded determinants and could prematurely interrupt folding programs by re-directing them to disposal pathways. On the other hand, futile folding attempts must actively be stopped to prevent intraluminal accumulation of defective cargo. This review describes recent advances in understanding how terminally misfolded polypeptides are extracted from the folding environment and directed to specific dislocons within the ER membrane for transfer to the cytoplasm for proteasome-mediated degradation.     

Expression and variability of molecular chaperones in the sugarcane expressome

Molecular chaperones perform folding assistance in newly synthesized polypeptides preventing aggregation processes, recovering proteins from aggregates, among other important cellular functions. Thus their study presents great biotechnological importance. The present work discusses the mining for chaperone-related sequences within the sugarcane EST genome project database, which resulted in approximately 300 different sequences. Since molecular chaperones are highly conserved in most organisms studied so far, the number of sequences related to these proteins in sugarcane was very similar to the number found in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. The Hsp70 family was the main molecular chaperone system present in the sugarcane expressome. However, many other relevant molecular chaperones systems were also present. A digital RNA blot analysis showed that 5'ESTs from all molecular chaperones were found in every sugarcane library, despite their heterogeneous expression profiles. The results presented here suggest the importance of molecular chaperones to polypeptide metabolism in sugarcane cells, based on their abundance and variability. Finally, these data have being used to guide more in deep analysis, permitting the choice of specific targets to study.     

Coexpression of molecular chaperones to enhance functional expression of anti-BNP scFv in the cytoplasm of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> for the detection of B-type natriuretic peptide

Molecular chaperones are a ubiquitous family of cellular proteins that mediate the correct folding of other target polypeptides. In our previous study, the recombinant anti-BNP scFv, which has promising applications for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic monitoring of heart failure, was expressed in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli. However, when the anti-BNP scFv was expressed, 73.4% of expressed antibodies formed insoluble inclusion bodies. In this study, molecular chaperones were coexpressed with anti-BNP scFv with the goal of improving the production of functional anti-BNP in the cytoplasm of E. coli. Five sets of molecular chaperones were assessed for their effects on the production of active anti-BNP scFv. These sets included the following: trigger factor (TF); groES/groEL; groES/groEL/TF; dnaK/dnaJ/grpE; groES/groEL/dnaK/dnaJ/grpE. Of these chaperones, the coexpression of anti-BNP scFv with the groES/groEL chaperones encoded in plasmid pGro7 exhibited the most efficient functional expression of anti-BNP scFv as an active form. Coexpressed with the groES/groEL chaperones, 64.9% of the total anti-BNP scFv was produced in soluble form, which is 2.4 times higher scFv than that of anti-BNP scFv expressed without molecular chaperones, and the relative binding activity was 1.5-fold higher. The optimal concentration of l-arabinose required for induction of the groES/groEL chaperone set was determined to be 1.0 mM and relative binding activity was 3.5 times higher compared with that of no induction with l-arabinose. In addition, soluble anti-BNP scFv was increased from 11.5 to 31.4 μg/ml with optimized inducer concentration (1.0 mM l-arabinose) for the coexpression of the groES/groEL chaperones. These results demonstrate that the functional expression of anti-BNP scFv can be improved by coexpression of molecular chaperones, as molecular chaperones can identify and help to refold improperly folded anti-BNP scFv.     

Alleviation of deleterious effects of protein mutation through inactivation of molecular chaperones

Molecular chaperones recognize and bind destabilized proteins. This can be especially important for proteins whose stability is reduced by mutations. We focused our study on a major chaperone system, RAC-Ssb, which assists folding of newly synthesized polypeptides in the yeast cytosol. A sensitive phenotypic assay, the red color of Ade2 mutants, was used to screen for variants with metabolic activity dependent on RAC-Ssb. None of the Ade2 mutants were found to exhibit lower metabolic activity after inactivation of RAC-Ssb. In order to explicitly test the relationship between protein instability and activity of chaperones, a series of temperature sensitive Ade2 mutants were tested in the presence or absence of RAC-Ssb. The growth of Ade2(ts) mutants at elevated temperatures was enhanced if chaperones were missing. Similar pattern was found for thermally sensitive mutants of several other genes. Because RAC-Ssb normally supports the folding of proteins, it appears paradoxical that catabolic activity of mutants is reduced when these chaperones are present. We suggest that under non-stressful conditions, molecular chaperones are tuned to support folding of native proteins, but not that of mutated ones.     

Single‐molecule dynamics of the molecular chaperone trigger factor in living cells

In bacteria, trigger factor (TF) is the molecular chaperone that interacts with the ribosome to assist the folding of nascent polypeptides. Studies in vitro have provided insights into the function and mechanism of TF. Much is to be elucidated, however, about how TF functions in vivo. Here, we use single‐molecule tracking, in combination with genetic manipulations, to study the dynamics and function of TF in living E. coli cells. We find that TF, besides interacting with the 70S ribosome, may also bind to ribosomal subunits and form TF‐polypeptide complexes that may include DnaK/DnaJ proteins. The TF‐70S ribosome interactions are highly dynamic inside cells, with an average residence time of ～0.2 s. Our results confirm that the signal recognition particle weakens TF's interaction with the 70S ribosome, and further identify that this weakening mainly results from a change in TF's binding to the 70S ribosome, rather than its unbinding. Moreover, using photoconvertible bimolecular fluorescence complementation, we selectively probe TF₂ dimers in the cell and show that TF₂ does not bind to the 70S ribosome but is involved in the post‐translational interactions with polypeptides. These findings contribute to the fundamental understanding of molecular chaperones in assisting protein folding in living cells.     

Prion proteins: folding and aggregation properties

The partial unfolding or alternative folding of a class of polypeptides is at the origin of fascinating events in living cells. In their non-native conformation, these constitutive polypeptides called prions are at the origin of a protein-based structural heredity. These polypeptides are closely associated to a class of fatal neurodegenerative illnesses in mammals and to the emergence and propagation of phenotypic traits in baker's yeasts. The structural transition from the correctly folded, native form of a prion protein to a persistent misfolded form that ultimately may cause cell death or the transmission of phenotypic traits is not yet fully understood. The mechanistic models accounting for this structure-based mode of inheritance and the extent of partial unfolding of prions or their alternative folding and the subsequent aggregation process are developed and discussed. Finally, the potential regulation of prion propagation by molecular chaperones is presented.