Artificial chaperone-assisted refolding of denatured-reduced lysozyme: Modulation of the competition between renaturation and aggregation

Conditions that promote renaturation of an unfolded protein also promote protein aggregation; in many cases, because these competing intramolecular and intermolecular processes are driven by similar networks of noncovalent interactions. The GroEL/GroES system and related biological chaperones facilitate the renaturation of substrate proteins by minimizing the aggregation pathway. We have devised a two-step method in which small molecules, ''artificial chaperones,'' facilitate protein refolding from a chemically denatured state. In the first step, the protein is captured by a detergent as guanidinium chloride is diluted to a non-denaturing concentration; formation of a protein-detergent complex prevents both protein aggregation and proper refolding. In the second step, a cyclodextrin strips detergent from the protein, allowing the protein to refold. Here we describe the first application of this method to a protein that must form disulfides in the native state. Lysozyme (hen egg white) can be refolded from the Gdm-denatured, DTT-reduced state in good yields at final protein concentrations as high as 1 mg/mL with the artificial chaperone method. Several mechanistic aspects of artificial chaperone-assisted refolding: have been probed, and a detailed mechanism for the kinetically controlled stripping step is proposed.