A zinc finger-like domain of the molecular chaperone DnaJ is involved in binding to denatured protein substrates Journal Article


Authors: Szabo, A.; Korszun, R.; Hartl, F. U.; Flanagan, J.
Article Title: A zinc finger-like domain of the molecular chaperone DnaJ is involved in binding to denatured protein substrates
Abstract: The Escherichia coil heat-shock protein DnaJ cooperates with the Hsp70 homolog DnaK in protein folding in vitro and in vivo. Little is known about the structural features of DnaJ that mediate its interaction with DnaK and unfolded polypeptide. DnaJ contains at least four blocks of sequence representing potential functional domains which have been conserved throughout evolution. In order to understand the role of each of these regions, we have analyzed DnaJ fragments in reactions corresponding to known functions of the intact protein. Both the N-terminal 70 amino acid 'J-domain' and a 35 amino acid glycine-phenylalanine region following it are required for interactions with DnaK. However, only complete DnaJ can cooperate with DnaK and a third protein, GrpE, in refolding denatured firefly luciferase. As demonstrated by atomic absorption and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS), the 90 amino acid cysteine-rich region of DnaJ contains two Zn atoms tetrahedrally coordinated to four cysteine residues, resembling their arrangement in the C4 Zn binding domains of certain DNA binding proteins. Interestingly, binding experiments and cross-linking studies indicate that this Zn finger-like domain is required for the DnaJ molecular chaperone to specifically recognize and bind to proteins in their denatured state.
Keywords: controlled study; nonhuman; protein domain; protein protein interaction; luciferase; protein binding; structure activity relation; bacteria (microorganisms); bacterial protein; bacterial proteins; amino acid sequence; molecular sequence data; sequence homology, amino acid; amino terminal sequence; kinetics; molecular recognition; escherichia coli; recombinant proteins; binding sites; protein folding; luciferases; zinc finger protein; adenosine triphosphatases; hsp70 heat-shock proteins; escherichia coli proteins; x ray analysis; chaperone; zinc fingers; consensus sequence; heat-shock proteins; heat shock protein; hsp40 heat-shock proteins; protein denaturation; escherichia; dnaj; priority journal; article; atomic absorption spectrometry; densitometry, x-ray; heat-shock protein; thiosulfate sulfurtransferase; zinc finger-like domain
Journal Title: EMBO Journal
Volume: 15
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0261-4189
Publisher: Wiley Blackwell  
Date Published: 1996-01-15
Start Page: 408
End Page: 417
Language: English
PUBMED: 8617216
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC449956
DOI: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1996.tb00371.x
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- Export Date: 22 November 2017 -- Source: Scopus
Altmetric
Citation Impact
BMJ Impact Analytics
MSK Authors
  1. F. Ulrich Hartl
    75 Hartl