Escherichia coli chaperonin GroEL and GroES assist in folding of a wide variety of substrate proteins in the molecular mass range of approximately 50 kDa, using cis mechanism, but limited information is available on how they assist in folding of larger proteins. Considering that the central cavity of GroEL can accommodate a non-native protein of approximately 60 kDa, it is important to study th...

The distributed computing (DC) paradigm in conjunction with the folding@home (FH) client server has been used to study the folding kinetics of small peptides and proteins, giving excellent agreement with experimentally measured folding rates, although pathways sampled in these simulations are not always consistent with the folding mechanism. In this study, we use a coarse-grain model of protein...

β-Barrel assembly machinery protein A (BamA) plays a critical role in the biogenesis of outer membrane proteins (OMPs); however, a mechanistic understanding of its function is lacking. Here, we report an in vitro assay that investigates whether the mechanism of BamA-catalyzed OMP folding is stoichiometric or catalytic. We found that BamA accelerates the folding of OMPs in vitro via a catalytic ...

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a complex protein folding and trafficking organelle. Alteration and discrepancy in the endoplasmic reticulum environment can affect the protein folding process and hence, can result in the production of misfolded proteins. The accumulation of misfolded proteins causes cellular damage and elicits endoplasmic reticulum stress. Under such stress conditions, cells ...

Protein folding in the cell requires ATP-driven chaperone machines. It is poorly understood, however, how these machines fold proteins. Here we propose that the conserved Hsp70 and Hsp90 chaperones support formation of the folding nucleus by providing a gradient of decreasing hydrophobicity. Early on the folding pathway Hsp70 uses its highly hydrophobic binding pocket to recover a stalled, unpr...

In this paper, a theoretical formula is presented to predict the instantaneous folding force of the first fold creation in a square column under axial loading. Calculations are based on analysis of “Basic Folding Mechanism” introduced by Wierzbicki and Abramowicz. For this purpose, the sum of dissipated energy rate under bending around horizontal and inclined hinge lines and dissipated energy r...