Structural and Functional Studies of Hsp70 Molecular Chaperones

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hsp70s are ubiquitous and highly conserved molecular chaperones that play multiple essential roles in maintaining cellular protein homeostasis through assisting in protein folding, assembly, degradation, and transportation across membrane. The fundamental importance of maintaining protein homeostasis inevitably links Hsp70s with many destructive human diseases, most notably cancers and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Thus, elucidating the structural and biochemical properties of Hsp70s will not only advance our understanding of the basic molecular mechanism of Hsp70-assited protein folding, but also provide crucial insights regarding how to target Hsp70s for therapeutic interventions in treating cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. Hsp70s have three key biochemical activities that are at the heart of the chaperone activity: ATPase, peptide substrate binding, and ATP-induced allosteric coupling. In spite of extensive efforts, the very basic mechanism of Hsp70-assisted protein folding is still ill-defined due to the lack of in-depth understanding o two key biochemical activities: 1) ATP-induced allosteric coupling is central to Hsp70s' chaperone activity~ however, all previous studies had failed to reveal the molecular mechanism. 2) The well-established single peptide binding site on Hsp70s has made it difficult to explain the efficient chaperone activity. Could there be additional peptide binding sites on Hsp70s that account for the high efficiency? Thus, the overall objective of this proposal is to analyze these two key biochemical activities in order to dissect the basic mechanisms of Hsp70 chaperone function. Recently, we solved the first crystal structure of an intact Hsp70 in the allosteric active state, and discovered a novel peptide substrate binding site on Hsp70s. Based on these original discoveries, we propose the following two Specific Aims: 1) elucidate the molecular mechanism of the ATP-driven allosteric coupling in Hsp70s, and 2) characterize a novel peptide binding site on Hsp70s and investigate its role in protein folding. To achieve our goal, we use a multidisciplinary approach combining X-ray crystallography, biochemistry, NMR, EPR, computational chemistry, and yeast and E.coli genetics. We expect that successful completion of this proposal will help us realize our long-term goal, which is to establish a thoroug mechanism understanding of the very basic mechanism of Hsp70 chaperone activity in protein folding.