Spiess, Christoph; Beil, Alexandra; Ehrmann, Michael:
A temperature-dependent switch from chaperone to protease in a widely conserved heat shock protein
In: Cell, Jg. 97 (1999), Heft 3, S. 339 - 347
1999Artikel/Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
BiologieFakultät für Biologie
Damit verbunden: 1 Publikation(en)
Titel:
A temperature-dependent switch from chaperone to protease in a widely conserved heat shock protein
Autor*in:
Spiess, Christoph;Beil, Alexandra;Ehrmann, MichaelUDE
LSF ID
13331
ORCID
0000-0002-1927-260XORCID iD
Sonstiges
der Hochschule zugeordnete*r Autor*in
Erscheinungsjahr:
1999

Abstract:

Misfolding or unfolding of polypeptides can occur as a consequence of environmental stress and spontaneous mutation. The abundance of general chaperones and proteases suggests that cells distinguish between proteins that can be refolded and 'hopeless' cases fated to enter the proteolytic pathway. The mechanisms controlling this key metabolic decision are not well understood. We show here that the widely conserved heat shock protein DegP (HtrA) has both general molecular chaperone and proteolytic activities. The chaperone function dominates at low temperatures, while the proteolytic activity is present at elevated temperatures. These results show that a single cellular factor can switch between two key pathways, controlling protein stability and turnover. Implications of this finding for intracellular protein metabolism are discussed.