Glycine at the 65th position plays an essential role in ATP-dependent protein folding by archael group II chaperonin

In the previous study, we have found that G65C and I125T double mutant of a chaperonin homo-oligomer from a hyperthermophilic archaeum, Thermococcus sp. strain KS-1, lacks ATP-dependent protein refolding activity despite showing ATPase activity and the ability to bind the denatured proteins. In this study, we have characterized several mutant Thermococcus chaperonin homo-oligomers with the amino acid substitutions of Gly-65 or Ile-125. The results showed that amino acid residue at 65th position should be a small amino acid such as glycine or alanine for the ATP-dependent refolding activity. The a chaperonin homooligomers with amino acid substitution of Gly-65 by amino acids whose side chains are larger than the methyl group did not have ATP-dependent protein refolding activity, but exhibited an increase of the binding affinity for unfolded proteins in the presence of ATP or AMP-PNP. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science.