GroEL: How Is Allostery Coupled to Assisted Folding?

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The chaperonin system GroEL / GroES is the most intensely studied member of a growing family of cellular nano-machines. These ring shaped oligomers are functionally diverse but share an ability to disrupt molecular and super-molecular complexes, driven by cycles of ATP binding and hydrolysis. They appear to act as mechano-chemical transducers. A better understanding of the structure and mechanism of these nano-machines is imperative since a growing number of diseases have been attributed to their malfunction. The chaperonins, ubiquitous and indispensable proteins, play an important role in vivo, assisting their substrate proteins (SP) to achieve and to maintain their native states. E. coil GroEL, the archetypic chaperonin, comprises two heptameric rings, stacked back to back. Each sub-unit comprises three distinct domains; the equatorial domain (the site for ATP hydrolysis), an intermediate domain, and an apical domain (the site for SP binding). The catalytic cycle involves large, concerted domain movements in GroEL, triggered allosterically by the binding of key ligands (K+ ion and ATP to the equatorial domain, SP and GroES to the apical domain). Allosteric communication occurs between the domains, within and between the rings. But the coupling between these allosteric T state to R state transitions is poorly understood. In this proposal, experiments designed to determine the role of each of the allosteric effectors on the TT to TR to RR transitions are outlined. With this experimental data, a more robust, all-inclusive model for nested cooperativity will be developed. The location, stoichiometry and affinity constants for the binding of the allosterically and catalytically essential K+ ion will be determined. The identity of the base in the ATP binding site in both the T state and the R state will be clarified. The importance of connectivity between the peptide binding sites in stabilizing the T state will be explored with model peptides of defined length. Methods utilized in the proposed work include site-directed mutagenesis, inter-domain cross-linking, steadystate and stopped-flow kinetics, isothermal titration calorimetry, fluorescence spectroscopy, x-ray crystallography, peptide synthesis, kinetic and computational modeling. These combined studies will provide information of specific significance to the mechanism of the chaperonins, but also of general significance to the mechanism of other ring-shaped nano-machines.