• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2016

Caffeine has both positive and negative effects on physiological functions in a dose-dependent manner. C. elegans has been used as an animal model to investigate the effects of caffeine on development. Caffeine treatment at a high dose (30 mM) showed detrimental effects and caused early larval arrest. We performed a comparative proteomic analysis to investigate the mode of action of high-dose caffeine treatment in C. elegans and found that the stress response proteins, heat shock protein (HSP)-4 (endoplasmic reticulum [ER] chaperone), HSP-6 (mitochondrial chaperone), and HSP-16 (cytosolic chaperone), were induced and their expression was regulated at the transcriptional level. These findings suggest that high-dose caffeine intake causes a strong stress response and activates all three stress-response pathways in the worms, including the ER-, mitochondrial-, and cytosolic pathways. RNA interference of each hsp gene or in triple combination retarded growth. In addition, caffeine treatment stimulated a food-avoidance behavior (aversion phenotype), which was enhanced by RNAi depletion of the hsp-4 gene. Therefore, up-regulation of hsp genes after caffeine treatment appeared to be the major responses to alleviate stress and protect against developmental arrest.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.266-274
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• 2005

High temperature requirement A (HtrA) and its homologues constitute the HtrA familiy proteins, a group of heat shock-induced serine proteases. Bacterial HtrA proteins perform crucial functions with regard to protein quality control in the periplasmic space, functioning as both molecular chaperones and proteases. In contrast to other bacterial quality control proteins, including ClpXP, ClpAP, and HslUV, HtrA proteins contain no regulatory components or ATP binding domains. Thus, they are commonly referred to as ATP-independent chaperone proteases. Whereas the function of ATP-dependent chaperone-proteases is regulated by ATP hydrolysis, HtrA exhibits a PDZ domain and a temperature-dependent switch mechanism, which effects the change in its function from molecular chaperone to protease. This mechanism is also related to substrate recognition and the fine control of its function. Structural and biochemical analyses of the three HtrA proteins, DegP, DegQ, and DegS, have provided us with clues as to the functional regulation of HtrA proteins, as well as their roles in protein quality control at atomic scales. The objective of this brief review is to discuss some of the recent studies which have been conducted regarding the structure and function of these HtrA proteins, and to compare their roles in the context of protein quality control.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2013

The human $B_{12}$ trafficking chaperone hCblC is well conserved in mammals and non-mammalian eukaryotes. However, the C-terminal ~40 amino acids of hCblC vary significantly and are predicted to be deleted by alternative splicing of the encoding gene. In this study, we examined the thermostability of the bovine CblC truncated at the C-terminal variable region (t-bCblC) and its regulation by glutathione. t-bCblC is highly thermolabile ($T_m={\sim}42^{\circ}C$) similar to the full-length protein (f-bCblC). However, t-bCblC is stabilized to a greater extent than f-bCblC by binding of reduced glutathione (GSH) with increased sensitivity to GSH. In addition, binding of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) destabilizes t-bCblC to a greater extent and with increased sensitivity as compared to f-bCblC. These results indicate that t-bCblC is a more sensitive form to be regulated by glutathione than the full-length form of the protein.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2003

While screening proteins that interact with DnaA protein, the initiator protein for Escherichia coil chromosomal DNA replication, we found a 52-kD sized protein which bound to DnaA protein in a salt-dependent manner. This protein was identified as trigger factor, a ribosome-associated peptidyl-prolyl- cisltrans isomerase with chaperone activity. Trigger factor was overproduced and purified to near homogeneity, and its effect on the function of DnaA protein was examined, Enhanced binding of DnaA protein to DnaA box with no apparent supershift in the gel-shift experiments suggested that trigger factor, by virtue of its chaperone activity, exerts a change on DnaA protein thus increasing its binding affinity for DnaA box.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2019

${\alpha}B$-crystallin (${\alpha}BC$) is a member of a small heat-shock protein (sHSP) superfamily and plays a predominant role in cellular protein homeostasis network by rescuing misfolded proteins from irreversible aggregation. ${\alpha}BC$ assembles into dynamic and polydisperse high molecular weight complexes containing 12 to 48 monomers; this variable stereochemistry of ${\alpha}BC$ has been linked to quaternary subunit exchange and its chaperone activity. The chaperone activity of ${\alpha}BC$ poses great potential as therapeutic agents for various neurodegenerative diseases. In this mini-review, we briefly outline the recent advancement in structural characterization of ${\alpha}BCs$ and its potential role to inhibit protein misfolding and aggregation in various human diseases. In particular, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its complimentary techniques have contributed much to elucidate highly-dynamic nature of ${\alpha}BCs$, among which notable advancements are discussed in detail. We highlight the importance of resolving the structural details of various ${\alpha}BC$ oligomers, their quaternary dynamics, and structural heterogeneity.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.594-602
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• 2016

Alkyl hydroperoxide reductase subunit C from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (PaAhpC) is a member of the 2-Cys peroxiredoxin family. Here, we examined the peroxidase and molecular chaperone functions of PaAhpC using a site-directed mutagenesis approach by substitution of Ser and Thr residues with Cys at positions 78 and 105 located between two catalytic cysteines. Substitution of Ser with Cys at position 78 enhanced the chaperone activity of the mutant (S78C-PaAhpC) by approximately 9-fold compared with that of the wild-type protein (WT-PaAhpC). This increased activity may have been associated with the proportionate increase in the high-molecular-weight (HMW) fraction and enhanced hydrophobicity of S78C-PaAhpC. Homology modeling revealed that mutation of $Ser^{78}$ to $Cys^{78}$ resulted in a more compact decameric structure than that observed in WT-PaAhpC and decreased the atomic distance between the two neighboring sulfur atoms of $Cys^{78}$ in the dimer-dimer interface of S78C-PaAhpC, which could be responsible for the enhanced hydrophobic interaction at the dimer-dimer interface. Furthermore, complementation assays showed that S78C-PaAhpC exhibited greatly improved the heat tolerance, resulting in enhanced1 survival under thermal stress. Thus, addition of Cys at position 78 in PaAhpC modulated the functional shifting of this protein from a peroxidase to a chaperone.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.4 s.71
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• pp.553-560
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• 2005

The stf (Salmonella typhimurium fimbriae) operon consisting of stfA(CDEFG assumes to encode putative fimbriae. The complete stf operon is existed in S. typhimurium and S. choleraesuis, whereas it is absent in S. typhi. Analyses of the amino acid residues between major subunit StfA of the Stf fimbriae and those of known other fimbriaes suggested that Stf belongs to class I type fimbriae. Through comparison of StfD chaperone with the other fimbrial chaperones, and of C-terminus in subunits of Stf fimbriae, it belongs to FGS (with a short Fl-G1 loop) subfamily. In order to investigate the expression of stf operon, we have constructed a Salmonella strain containing a chromosomal stfA::lacZYA transcriptional fusion, resulting in S. typhimurium $_X8532$. The strain $_X8532$ lacked the expression of \beta-galactosidase$ under normal culture conditions. However, with longer incubation time of the S. typhimurium $_X8532$, we have isolated 21 individual strains exhibiting $Lac^+$ phenotype. $Lac^+$ phenotype was appeared as approximately 0.03 frequency per generation. All isolates expressed lacZ constitutively in the various environmental conditions. Various global regulatory proteins including RpoS, OmpR, and CpxR were not involved in the regulation of the stf operon. A S. typhimurium $_X8661$ mutant lacking stfAC function attenuated 6.7 folds more than that of wild type $_X3761$ in the mouse virulence test, suggesting in the somehow involved in the Salmonella pathogenesis.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.101-104
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• 2005

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.337-343
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• 2016

Understanding of trafficking, processing, and degradation mechanisms of amyloid precursor protein (APP) is important because APP can be processed to produce β-amyloid (Aβ), a key pathogenic molecule in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we found that APP contains KFERQ motif at its C-terminus, a consensus sequence for chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) or microautophagy which are another types of autophagy for degradation of pathogenic molecules in neurodegenerative diseases. Deletion of KFERQ in APP increased C-terminal fragments (CTFs) and secreted N-terminal fragments of APP and kept it away from lysosomes. KFERQ deletion did not abolish the interaction of APP or its cleaved products with heat shock cognate protein 70 (Hsc70), a protein necessary for CMA or microautophagy. These findings suggest that KFERQ motif is important for normal processing and degradation of APP to preclude the accumulation of APP-CTFs although it may not be important for CMA or microautophagy.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.65-67
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• 2010

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a multifunctional intercellular organelle in which several posttranslational modification steps occurred such as protein folding, lipid biosynthesis, calcium storage and release. Perturbations that disrupt ER homeostasis lead to the misfolding of proteins in the ER lumen and up-regulation of ER signaling pathway called the unfolded protein response (UPR). Here, we have demonstrated that ageing changes the expression of ER chaperone and associated ER membrane kinases of IRE1, ATF6 and PERK.