Volume 270,
Number 32,
Issue of August 11, pp. 18841-18847, 1995
©1995 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
The 23-kDa Acidic
Protein in Reticulocyte Lysate Is the Weakly Bound Component of the hsp
Foldosome That Is Required for Assembly of the Glucocorticoid Receptor
into a Functional Heterocomplex with hsp90
(Received for publication, April 17,
1995; and in revised form, May 30, 1995)
Kevin A.
Hutchison
Louis F.
Stancato
Janet K.
Owens-Grillo
Jill L.
Johnson
Priti
Krishna
David
O.
Toft
William B.
Pratt
The heat shock proteins hsp90 and hsp70 have been immunopurified
from rabbit reticulocyte lysate in a multiprotein complex that acts as
a self-sufficient protein folding machine. This immunopurified
``foldosome'' directs the assembly of the glucocorticoid
receptor-hsp90 complex and refolds the receptor to the steroid binding
state (Hutchison, K. A., Dittmar, K. D., and Pratt, W. B.(1994) J.
Biol. Chem. 269, 27894-27899). Extensive washing of the
immunoadsorbed foldosome eliminates a weakly bound component required
for receptor heterocomplex assembly and folding. This protein factor is
contained in a Centricon C-100 filtrate of lysate which reconstitutes
the receptor activating activity of the washed foldosome. This
hsp90-associated protein folding system is present in both animal and
plant cells, and the Centricon C-100 fraction of rabbit reticulocyte
lysate potentiates receptor folding directed by wheat germ lysate. We
have used this ability to stimulate wheat germ lysate-directed folding
of the glucocorticoid receptor as a rapid assay for the factor. We
demonstrate that the activity segregates with the 23-kDa acidic protein
component of the hsp90 foldosome when rabbit reticulocyte lysate is
fractionated by ammonium sulfate precipitation and ion exchange
chromatography. Immunoadsorption of the Centricon C-100 filtrate with a
monoclonal antibody against p23 eliminates its ability to stimulate the
wheat germ heterocomplex assembly/receptor folding system, and the
activity is replaced by purified, bacterially expressed p23.
Immunodepletion of p23 also eliminates the ability of the Centricon
C-100 filtrate to reconstitute receptor activating activity of the
washed foldosome and addition of purified, bacterially expressed p23
restores its activity, confirming that p23 is the weakly bound
component of the foldosome complex required for refolding of the
receptor to the steroid binding conformation.