The Bacterial Hsp90 Chaperone: Cellular Functions and Mechanism of Action

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a molecular chaperone that folds and remodels proteins, thereby regulating the activity of numerous substrate proteins. Hsp90 is widely conserved across species and is essential in all eukaryotes and in some bacteria under stress conditions. To facilitate protein remodeling, bacterial Hsp90 collaborates with the Hsp70 molecular chaperone and its cochaperones. In contrast, the mechanism of protein remodeling performed by eukaryotic Hsp90 is more complex, involving more than 20 Hsp90 cochaperones in addition to Hsp70 and its cochaperones. In this review, we focus on recent progress toward understanding the basic mechanisms of bacterial Hsp90-mediated protein remodeling and the collaboration between Hsp90 and Hsp70. We describe the universally conserved structure and conformational dynamics of these chaperones and their interactions with one another and with client proteins. The physiological roles of Hsp90 in Escherichia coli and other bacteria are also discussed. We anticipate that the information gained from exploring the mechanism of the bacterial chaperone system will provide a framework for understanding the more complex eukaryotic Hsp90 system.