Chaperonin Function: Folding by Forced Unfolding
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R EPORTS (1985); N. Romani et al., ibid. 169, 1169 (1989); C. migrated was measured with the clonotypic antibody 26. J. G. Cyster, J. Exp. Med. 189, 447 (1999). Heufler et al., ibid. 176, 1221 (1992). to TCR KJ1-26 (28). Overnight incubation of day 2 27. G. G. MacPherson, C. D. Jenkins, M. J. Stein, C. Ed- 23. R. Bonecchi et al., ibid. 187, 129 (1998). draining lymph node cells (at 107 cells/ml) in medium wards, J. Immunol. 154, 1317 (1995). 24. Anti-OVA (DO11.10) T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic containing interleukin-2 (IL-2) (4 ng/ml) increased 28. K. Haskins et al., J. Exp. Med. 157, 1149 (1983). 1 lymph node cells (5 3 106 cells) were transferred to the sensitivity of activated KJ1-26 cells to MDC 29. We thank R. Locksley, S. Luther, K. Reif, and A. Weiss for comments on the manuscript; M. Ansel for help BALB/c mice that were immunized 1 day later with (14). Therefore, IL-2–cultured cells were used in ex- with the in vivo transfer experiments; and C. 100-mg OVA in Freund’s complete adjuvant (25). periments to detect chemokine production by puri- McArthur for cell sorting. Supported in part by NIH fied lymph node DCs and stromal cells. Draining (pool of brachial, axillary, and inguinal) and grant AI-40098, the Pew Foundation (J.G.C.), and the nondraining (mesenteric) lymph node cells were iso- 25. E. R. Kearney, K. A. Pape, D. Y. Loh, M. K. Jenkins, American Lung Association (H.L.T.). lated 1 to 5 days later and used in MDC chemotaxis Immunity 1, 327 (1994); K. M. Murphy, A. B. Heim- assays. The frequency of OVA-specific T cells that berger, D. Y. Loh, Science 250, 1720 (1990). 8 January 1999; accepted 23 March 1999 one protein within a complex, which allowed Chaperonin Function: Folding by us to test the entire active chaperonin system and its individual components on the biolog- Forced Unfolding ically relevant time scale of seconds. In nonpermissive conditions RuBisCO Mark Shtilerman,1 George H. Lorimer,2* S. Walter Englander1 folding is blocked. It fails to fold spontane- ously (23) and can reach the native state only The ability of the GroEL chaperonin to unfold a protein trapped in a misfolded with the help of the complete GroEL-GroES- condition was detected and studied by hydrogen exchange. The GroEL-induced ATP system (24). When unfolded RuBisCO unfolding of its substrate protein is only partial, requires the complete chap- is trapped in this way, most of its amide eronin system, and is accomplished within the 13 seconds required for a single hydrogens exchange rapidly with unlabeled system turnover. The binding of nucleoside triphosphate provides the energy water protons, as expected, but a core of 12 for a single unfolding event; multiple turnovers require adenosine triphosphate highly protected hydrogens exhibit exchange hydrolysis. The substrate protein is released on each turnover even if it has not half-lives of 30 min and longer (detected by yet refolded to the native state. These results suggest that GroEL helps partly tritium label) (Fig. 2). The number of slowly folded but blocked proteins to fold by causing them first to partially unfold. The exchanging hydrogens found and their degree structure of GroEL seems well suited to generate the nonspecific mechanical of protection ensures that they represent stretching force required for forceful protein unfolding. amide groups and not side chains (22). The slowly exchanging hydrogens provide multi- The GroEL chaperonin (1, 2) captures non- ever, numerous experiments have shown that ple probe sites that are sensitive to structural native proteins by means of a ring of hydro- the substrate protein is ejected from the cav- stability and change and may or may not phobic residues that line the entrance to the ity with each round of ATP hydrolysis wheth- represent the same sites in different RuBisCO central cavity of its heptameric ring (Fig. 1) er it has reached the native state or not (11). molecules. (3). When GroEL binds adenosine triphos- The iterative annealing model (12) is based The conditions used (pH 8, 22° 6 2°C), phate (ATP) and the GroES cochaperonin, a on the view that the rate-limiting step in slow chosen to promote the rapid exchange of massive structure change doubles the GroEL protein folding is the intramolecular reorga- amide hydrogens that might be transiently cavity volume and occludes its hydrophobic nization of misfolded and trapped protein unmasked by chaperone action [exchange binding surface (4, 5). Spectroscopic evi- segments, dependent on some degree of pro- half-life ;10 ms (22)], require that the dence (6, 7), proteinase protection experi- tein unfolding (13–15). This model proposes trapped hydrogens must be highly protected ments (6, 8), and electron microscopy (4, 9) that ATP hydrolysis is coupled to a forceful in the non-native protein so that their ex- leave no doubt that the substrate protein is unfolding of the misfolded substrate protein change is slow enough to be measurable. transiently encapsulated in the central cavity and its release, either into the protected cen- Some other proteins tested provided similar under the GroES lid. However, despite much tral cavity or to the exterior, so that the numbers of slow hydrogens but the hydro- additional structural and biochemical study misfolding is relieved and forward folding gens were less protected (maltose-binding (1, 2), the manner in which the GroEL struc- can resume. Incompletely folded proteins un- protein, malate dehydrogenase, rhodanese) ture change promotes protein folding remains dergo further iterations, in the biological [see also (19)]. It seems likely that the pro- to be demonstrated. equivalent of optimization through annealing tected RuBisCO hydrogens are sequestered in Two models, not mutually exclusive, are (16), until they achieve the native state. How- a partially folded domain. Nevertheless, un- under consideration. The Anfinsen cage mod- ever, there is no evidence for a GroES- and folded RuBisCO retains sufficient non-native el (10) is based on the view that protein ATP-dependent unfolding reaction on the structure, perhaps in other domains (25), so folding is limited by intermolecular reactions 13-s time scale of the GroEL–adenosine that it is efficiently captured by GroEL. The that produce aggregation. The model propos- triphosphatase cycle. possibility that the slow hydrogens are pro- es that the GroEL cavity provides a seques- We explored GroEL function using un- tected by RuBisCO association or complex tered microenvironment where folding to the folded ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxy- formation with GroEL was ruled out by native state can proceed while the substrate lase-oxygenase (RuBisCO, from Rhodospi- cross-linking experiments that failed to detect protein is protected from aggregation. How- rillum rubrum) labeled by hydrogen-tritium RuBisCO association under these conditions exchange. The role of the individual system and by experiments that compared immediate components and parameters was studied and delayed GroEL addition. 1The Johnson Research Foundation, Department of through their effect on the exchange of the The time course for exchange of the pro- Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsyl- protected RuBisCO hydrogens. Prior studies tected hydrogens is the same for RuBisCO vania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. 2Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, of GroEL (17–21) used various hydrogen free in solution and when bound to GroEL University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. exchange approaches (22). Tritium exchange (Fig. 2A). A similar result was found for a *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E- provides advantages including sensitivity, ac- unfolded, disulfide-reduced -lactalbumin mail: [email protected] curacy, rapidity, and the ability to focus on (18). To focus on the slowly exchanging hy- 822 30 APRIL 1999 VOL 284 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org R EPORTS drogens, we incubated labeled RuBisCO in a than its hydrolysis and also that the unfolding hydrogens occurs within the ;45 s necessary small excess of GroEL for 10 min to allow observed does not require repeated system turn- for separation of the protein from the freed replacement of T with H at the rapidly ex- overs. The fact that 2.5 slow hydrogens re- tritium label. To obtain greater time resolu- changing sites. The binary complex was then mained suggests that GroEL does not fully tion, we added ATP to an otherwise complete mixed with GroES and various nucleotides unfold the substrate molecule. It is expected reaction mixture and EDTA was added 5 to (Fig. 2B). The addition of a twofold molar that even a partial unfolding of the protecting 12 s later to quench the reaction. This allows excess of GroES alone had no effect on the structure will tend to labilize protected hydro- a GroEL cycle in progress to continue but exchange rate of the highly protected hydro- gens to exchange (22). precludes further cycling (11). Figure 3 gens, and neither did Mg21-ADP, Mg21- When a stoichiometric mixture of GroEL, shows that the system is committed to the ATP, or Mg21-AMP-PNP in the absence of GroES, and labeled RuBisCO was passed unfolding event that causes the rapid tritium GroES. Similarly, experiments on b-lacta- through a gel filtration column, all the label mase (20) and dihydrofolate reductase (21) emerged at the position of the complex. found no effect when ATP was added to the When ATP was added, the GroEL-bound GroEL complex without GroES. RuBisCO lost all but about two of its protect- In contrast, the addition of GroES and ed hydrogens whereas added ADP had no Mg21-ATP together resulted in the rapid ex- effect, as in the prior experiments. Thus, the change of all but 2.5 of the protected hydro- behavior observed here involves the interac- gens, signaling some unfolding event (Fig.