MECHANISMS OF CHAPERONIN-ASSISTED PROTEIN FOLDING

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A number of in vivo protein folding and assembly reactions have been found to require an essential set of accessory proteins called chaperonins. Their mechanism of action is unknown. We will use dodecameric Escherichia coli glutamine synthetase (GS), mitochondria rhodanese, and yeast alpha-glucosidase as substrates for the E. coli chaperonin system, groEL and groES. Rhodanese requires all the chaperonin components and ATP for folding while GS and a-glucosidase only require groEL and ATP to initiate folding. Determining the molecular origins for these observed differences will provide important mechanistic information about chaperonin-assisted folding and assembly. The long range goal of our research is to define the mechanism by which the groE chaperonins increase the product yields of correctly folded oligomeric and monomeric proteins. The main hypotheses to be tested are that; 1) GroEL modulates its binding affinity for partially folded intermediates (PFI) by binding nucleotide (ATP, ADP, ATP analogs) and groES to rapidly release the previously bound substrate and; 2)the molecular origins of the different requirements of the chaperonin system observed with various substrates are dictated by a) nature and strength of binding of the initial folding intermediate and b) whether the release intermediate still has a tendency to misfold or aggregate. Our experimental approach is to; 1) determine the binding enthalpies and free energies between groEL and nucleotides, groES, and stable folding intermediates by differential stopped-flow titration microcalorimetry; 2) determine whether the chaperonin system is still required after the PFI has been released from immobilized (yet functional) groEL; and 3) determine the kinetics (monitoring time-dependent activity, fluorescence and enthalpic changes) of chaperonin-assisted folding (and assembly) reactions as a function of increasing concentrations of stable chaperonin-PFI complexes.