Hsc66 and Hsc20, a new heat shock cognate molecular chaperone system from Escherichia coli.

The hscA and hscB genes of Escherichia coli encode novel chaperone and co-chaperone proteins, designated Hsc66 and Hsc20, respectively. We have overproduced and purified Hsc66 and Hsc20 in high yield in E. coli and describe their initial characterization including absorbance, fluorescence, and circular dichroism spectra. Immunoblot analyses of E. coli cultures using antisera to Hsc66 and Hsc20 raised in rabbits establish that Hsc66 and Hsc20 are constitutively expressed at levels corresponding to cell concentration approximately 20 microM and approximately 10 microM, respectively. The levels do not change appreciably following heat shock (44 degrees C), but a small increase in Hsc20 is observed following a shift to 10 degrees C. Purified Hsc66 exhibits a low intrinsic ATPase activity (approximately 0.6 min-1 at 37 degrees C), and Hsc20 was found to stimulate this activity up to 3.8-fold with half-maximal stimulation at a concentration approximately 5 microM. These findings suggest that Hsc66 and Hsc20 comprise a molecular chaperone system similar to the prokaryotic DnaK/DnaJ and eukaryotic hsp70/hsp40 systems. Sequence differences between Hsc66 and Hsc20 compared to other members of this chaperone family, however, suggest that the Hsc66/Hsc20 system will display different peptide binding specificity and that it is likely to be subject to different regulatory mechanisms. The high level of constitutive expression and the lack of a major response to temperature changes suggest that Hsc66 and Hsc20 play an important cellular role(s) under non-stress conditions.     

Heat shock protein 90 and its co-chaperone protein phosphatase 5 interact with distinct regions of the tomato I-2 disease resistance protein

Recent data suggest that plant disease resistance (R) proteins are present in multi-protein complexes. Tomato R protein I-2 confers resistance against the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. To identify components of the I-2 complex, we performed yeast two-hybrid screens using the I-2 leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain as bait, and identified protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) as an I-2 interactor. Subsequent screens revealed two members of the cytosolic heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) family as interactors of PP5. By performing in vitro protein-protein interaction analysis using recombinant proteins, we were able to show a direct interaction between I-2 and PP5, and between I-2 and HSP90. The N-terminal part of the LRR domain was found to interact with HSP90, whereas the C-terminal part bound to PP5. The specific binding of HSP90 to the N-terminal region of the I-2 LRR domain was confirmed by co-purifying HSP90 from tomato lysate using recombinant proteins. Similarly, the interaction between PP5 and HSP90 was established. To investigate the role of PP5 and HSP90 for I-2 function, virus-induced gene silencing was performed in Nicotiana benthamiana. Silencing of HSP90 but not of PP5 completely blocked cell death triggered by I-2, showing that HSP90 is required for I-2 function. Together these data suggest that R proteins require, like steroid hormone receptors in animal systems, an HSP90/PP5 complex for their folding and functioning.     

DNAJC9 integrates heat shock molecular chaperones into the histone chaperone network

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The co-chaperone p23 is degraded by caspases and the proteasome during apoptosis

The heat shock protein 90 co-chaperone p23 has recently been shown to be up-regulated in cancer cells and down-regulated in atheroschlerotic plaques. We found that p23 is degraded during apoptosis induced by several stimuli, including Fas and TNFalpha-receptor activation as well as staurosporine treatment. Caspase inhibition protected p23 from degradation in several cell lines. In addition, recombinant caspase-3 and 8 cleaved p23 at Asp 142 generating a degradation product of 18 kDa as seen in apoptotic cells. Truncated p23 is further degraded in a proteasome dependent process during apoptosis. Furthermore, we found that the anti-aggregating activity of truncated p23 was reduced compared to full length p23 indicating that caspase mediated p23 degradation contributes to protein destabilisation in apoptosis.     

Post-translational Regulation of FNIP1 Creates a Rheostat for the Molecular Chaperone Hsp90

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Activation of autophagy depends on Atg1/Ulk1-mediated phosphorylation and inhibition of the Hsp90 chaperone machinery

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