分子伴侣结构与功能的研究进展

分子伴侣是细胞内一类能够协助其他多肽进行正常折叠、组装、转运、降解的蛋白,并在 DNA的复制、转录,细胞骨架功能,细胞内的信号转导等广泛的领域,都发挥着重要的生理作用,其结构与功能异常会导致多种相关的疾病。简要综述了分子伴侣结构与功能方面的研究进展。     

分子伴侣

分子伴侣是最近十几年才发现的一类非常保守的蛋白家庭。它与酶的作用方式类似，能和某些不同的多肽链非特异性结合，催化介导蛋白质特定构象的形成，参与体内蛋白质的折叠、装配和转运，但又不构成其结构的一部分。这类保守的蛋白家族大致可分为四类，广泛存在于生物体中。其中研究得最多的是热休克蛋白。实际上，分子伴侣是一种蛋白质分子构象的协助者，主要参与蛋白质次级结构的形成。     

分子伴侣研究概况

分子伴侣主要是在进化上高度保守的热休克蛋白的几个家族。从细菌到哺乳动物,分子伴侣对体内蛋白质的折叠、运输和组装都起到非常重要的作用。本文简要地概述了分子伴侣的组成、它们在蛋白质折叠中的作用以及它们在生物工程下游处理过程中的应用情况。     

病毒与分子伴侣

分子伴侣与病毒生命活动密切相关,从病毒复制的起始、转录的进行、翻译的完成到病毒粒子的装配成熟,甚至病毒在宿主体内的转运都有分子伴侣的参与。随着病毒与分子伴侣相互关系研究的深入,产生了抗病毒的又一可能途径。     

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。     

Cu+的转运体系

铜是生物体内必需的营养元素,参与体内许多生化反应。细胞膜上的蛋白质和细胞质内可溶性多肤(即分子伴侣)参与了铜离子的跨越细胞膜的转运和细胞内的定位。铜离子被CTR系统转运进入细胞后,主要有三类分子伴侣——ATxl、Coxl7、LYS7介导铜离子在细胞内的运输与定位。每一种分子伴侣都特异性地识别靶分子。细胞膜上和细胞质内的转运体系发生突变,将会诱发很多疾病。近年来,随着对某些疾病机理的深入揭示,人们越来越重视对铜离子异常代谢所引起的疾病的研究。     

GroEL分子伴侣研究进展

大肠杆菌的GroEL是同型寡聚复合体,由14个相对分子质量58×103亚基组成背靠背的双环结构。它在新生蛋白质的正确折叠和组装以及在热或化学逆境下变性蛋白质的恢复过程中起重要作用。同时,在大肠杆菌的跨膜转运及插入细胞质膜方面都起重要作用。这些活动依赖于GroEL与底物蛋白的疏水片断的相互作用。综述了Hsp60分子伴侣系统中研究得比较清楚的GroEL的晶体结构、功能及作用机理等方面的研究进展。     

细菌周质分子伴侣LolA研究进展

细菌脂蛋白是一种脂质修饰的膜蛋白,参与细胞膜合成等多种重要生理过程.脂蛋白形成过程依赖于Lol转运系统,该蛋白最先在细胞质中以前体的形式合成,然后在细胞膜上被加工为成熟脂蛋白,锚定于细菌外膜周质侧.Lol系统由LolA-E五种蛋白组成,其中脂蛋白在周质空间中依赖伴侣蛋白LolA进行转运,LolA将脂蛋白以"mouth ...     

分子伴侣的功能和应用

本文综述了分子伴侣的分类、功能、作用机理、研究现状及应用前景。分子伴侣是在生物大分子的折叠、组装、转运及降解等过程中起协助作用,参与协助抗原的呈递和遗传物质的复制、转录及构象的确立,但自身并不发生任何变化的一大类广泛存在于生物体内的蛋白质分子。随着对分子伴侣的进一步研究和相关知识的不断深入,分子伴侣在生物产品开发、物种改良、抗衰老,疾病预防、诊断和治疗以及环境监测方面具有广阔的前景。     

分子伴侣HdeA与HdeB的作用机制

分子伴侣能够与其他蛋白质的不稳定构象相结合并使其稳定．它的功能之一是能够帮助蛋白质进行正确的折叠与组装．最新研究发现,在肠道致病菌的周质空间中存在着酸性条件下能帮助周质蛋白复性的分子伴侣HdeA和HdeB．HdeA在极端酸性的胃部环境中由二聚体迅速解离成具有伴侣活性的单体,HdeA单体能够和变性的底物蛋白结合防止它们酸诱导聚集,从而保护肠道致病菌安全到达肠道．本文对肠道致病菌的耐酸机制进行了总结,最后对 HdeA和HdeB作用机制的研究近况进行综述,最后对HdeA和HdeB以后的研究方向进行了展望．     

Molecular Chaperones and Mitochondrial Protein Folding

Precursor proteins destined for the mitochondrial matrix traverse inner and outer organelle membranes in an extended conformation. Translocation events are therefore integrally coupled to the processes of protein unfolding in the cytosol and protein refolding in the matrix. To successfully import proteins from the cytoplasm into mitochondria, cells have recruited a variety of molecular chaperone systems and folding catalysts. Within the organelles, mitochondrial Hsp70 (mt-Hsp70) is a major player in this process and exerts multiple functions. First, mt-Hsp70 binds together with cohort proteins to incoming polypeptide chains, thus conferring unidirectionality on the translocation process, and then assists in their refolding. A subset of imported proteins requires additional assistance by chaperonins of the Hsp60/Hsp10 family. Protein folding occurs within the cavity of these cylindrical complexes. A productive interaction of precursor proteins with molecular chaperones in the matrix is not only crucial for correct refolding and assembly, but also for processing of presequences, intramitochondrial sorting, and degradation of proteins. This review focuses on the role of mt-Hsp70 and Hsp60/Hsp10 in protein folding in the mitochondrial matrix and discusses recent findings on their molecular mechanism of action.     

Molecular chaperones in the yeast endoplasmic reticulum maintain the solubility of proteins for retrotranslocation and degradation

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) is the process by which aberrant proteins in the ER lumen are exported back to the cytosol and degraded by the proteasome. Although ER molecular chaperones are required for ERAD, their specific role(s) in this process have been ill defined. To understand how one group of interacting lumenal chaperones facilitates ERAD, the fates of pro-alpha-factor and a mutant form of carboxypeptidase Y were examined both in vivo and in vitro. We found that these ERAD substrates are stabilized and aggregate in the ER at elevated temperatures when BiP, the lumenal Hsp70 molecular chaperone, is mutated, or when the genes encoding the J domain-containing proteins Jem1p and Scj1p are deleted. In contrast, deletion of JEM1 and SCJ1 had little effect on the ERAD of a membrane protein. These results suggest that one role of the BiP, Jem1p, and Scj1p chaperones is to maintain lumenal ERAD substrates in a retrotranslocation-competent state.     

分子伴侣及信号肽对毕赤酵母中分泌蛋白表达水平的影响

目的：探索定位于细胞质、内质网膜及内质网腔中的分子伴侣及其组合对于带有不同信号肽的胞外β-1,3-葡聚糖酶（EXGl）在巴斯德毕赤酵母GS200中表达水平的影响。方法：通过融合PCR技术分别构建带有酵母a交配因子引导肽序列（仅MF）、酵母仅交配因子信号肽序列（ccPre）和重链结合蛋白（Bip）信号肽序列的报告蛋白EXGl的表达质粒pPIC9-EXG1,同时构建分子伴侣基因及其组合的表达质粒pBLArg-IV,然后将2种重组质粒共转化至毕赤酵母宿主菌GS200,转化子经筛选获得共表达菌株,通过测定EXG1酶活来评价分子伴侣与信号肽对其表达水平的影响。结果：细胞质及内质网膜上的分子伴侣Sec61a、Sec61B及胞质中的分子伴侣Ydjl、Ssal、Hsp104及其组合对各种信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平没有显著影响。然而,内质网腔中的分子伴侣Bip、EroI、PDI与HacI组合能显著提高报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平,其中,以aMF或ctPre作为信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平分别提高了2．6倍和3．8倍,以Bip信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXGl的表达水平提高了20％～45％,而对于以EXG1自身信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平没有显著影响。结论：在酵母表达体系中,内质网腔中的分子伴侣是报告蛋白EXG1表达水平的重要影响因素．但分子伴侣对于信号肽的选择性还须进一步证明。     

Tandem Cell‐Free Protein Synthesis as a Tool for Rapid Screening of Optimal Molecular Chaperones

A simple and flexible method is developed for rapid screening of molecular chaperones that enhance the functional expression of recombinant proteins. A panel of molecular chaperones are transiently expressed in a reaction mixture of cell‐free protein synthesis and then a target protein is subsequently expressed in the presence of these presynthesized molecular chaperones. The biological activity of the cell‐free synthesized target protein is compared to identify the effective molecular chaperones. This strategy successfully identifies individual and combinations of bacterial molecular chaperones that markedly improved the functional expression of horseradish peroxidase. The authors believe that the presented strategy provides a versatile platform for the optimal production of functional proteins, and can also be extended to studies of other interacting proteins.     

Crystallization of the chaperone protein SecB.

The secretory protein SecB found in Escherichia coli is a molecular chaperone that binds to precursor forms of a number of proteins targeted for export to the periplasmic space. SecB maintains these proteins in a translocation-competent conformation facilitating the translocation process. The material has been cloned and expressed in E. coli. Crystals have been grown from polyethylene glycol 8000 by vapor diffusion using the hanging drop technique. These crystals are monoclinic, belonging to space group C2 with unit cell dimensions a = 56.0 A, b = 111.1 A, c = 134.7 A, and beta = 104 degrees. The crystals diffract to 8 A resolution on a Rigaku imaging plate detector. Dynamic light scattering experiments suggest that SecB exhibits aggregation behavior with a number of different precipitating agents. These results may explain resistance of SecB to forming ordered crystals.     

Molecular mechanism of co-translational protein targeting by the signal recognition particle

The signal recognition particle (SRP) is a key component of the cellular machinery that couples the ongoing synthesis of proteins to their proper localization, and has often served as a paradigm for understanding the molecular basis of protein localization within the cell. The SRP pathway exemplifies several key molecular events required for protein targeting to cellular membranes: the specific recognition of signal sequences on cargo proteins, the efficient delivery of cargo to the target membrane, the productive unloading of cargo to the translocation machinery and the precise spatial and temporal coordination of these molecular events. Here we highlight recent advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this pathway, and discuss new questions raised by these findings.     

Specific Chaperones and Regulatory Domains in Control of Amyloid Formation

Many proteins can form amyloid-like fibrils in vitro, but only about 30 amyloids are linked to disease, whereas some proteins form physiological amyloid-like assemblies. This raises questions of how the formation of toxic protein species during amyloidogenesis is prevented or contained in vivo. Intrinsic chaperoning or regulatory factors can control the aggregation in different protein systems, thereby preventing unwanted aggregation and enabling the biological use of amyloidogenic proteins. The molecular actions of these chaperones and regulators provide clues to the prevention of amyloid disease, as well as to the harnessing of amyloidogenic proteins in medicine and biotechnology.     

The 1.38 A crystal structure of DmsD protein from Salmonella typhimurium, a proofreading chaperone on the Tat pathway

The DmsD protein is necessary for the biogenesis of dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) reductase in many prokaryotes. It performs a critical chaperone function initiated through its binding to the twin-arginine signal peptide of DmsA, the catalytic subunit of DMSO reductase. Upon binding to DmsD, DmsA is translocated to the periplasm via the so-called twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway. Here we report the 1.38 A crystal structure of the protein DmsD from Salmonella typhimurium and compare it with a close functional homolog, TorD. DmsD has an all-alpha fold structure with a notable helical extension located at its N-terminus with two solvent exposed hydrophobic residues. A major difference between DmsD and TorD is that TorD structure is a domain-swapped dimer, while DmsD exists as a monomer. Nevertheless, these two proteins have a number of common features suggesting they function by using similar mechanisms. A possible signal peptide-binding site is proposed based on structural similarities. Computational analysis was used to identify a potential GTP binding pocket on similar surfaces of DmsD and TorD structures.