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Structural analysis of the interaction between Hsp90 and the tumor suppressor protein p53

Abstract

In eukaryotes, the essential dimeric molecular chaperone Hsp90 is required for the activation and maturation of specific substrates such as steroid hormone receptors, tyrosine kinases and transcription factors. Hsp90 is involved in the establishment of cancer and has become an attractive target for drug design. Here we present a structural characterization of the complex between Hsp90 and the tumor suppressor p53, a key mediator of apoptosis whose structural integrity is crucial for cell-cycle control. Using biophysical methods, we show that the human p53 DNA-binding domain interacts with multiple domains of yeast Hsp90. p53 binds to the Hsp90 C-terminal domain in its native-like state in a charge-dependent manner, but it also associates weakly with binding sites in the middle and the N-terminal domains. The fine-tuned interplay between several Hsp90 domains provides the interactions required for efficient chaperoning of p53.

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Figure 1: Interaction between Hsp90 and p53 fragments.
Figure 2: NMR analysis of the binding of the p53-DBD to the individual domains of Hsp90.
Figure 3: NMR analysis of the binding of single Hsp90 domains to the p53-DBD.
Figure 4: Structural model of the Hsp90-MD–p53-DBD complex.
Figure 5: Structural analysis of the Hsp90-CTD–p53-DBD interaction.
Figure 6: Chaperone activities of Hsp90 variants.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft SFB594 and the Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (J.B. and H.K.), the Elitenetzwerk Bayern (F.H. and J.R.) and the Fonds der chemischen Industrie (M.R.). F.H. is a recipient of an EMBO long-term fellowship (ALTF 265-2010). We want to thank D. Heckmann for peptide synthesis.

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F.H., S.L. and M.R. designed research, performed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the paper. J.R., O.D. and K.R. performed research and analyzed data. J.B. and H.K. designed research and wrote the paper. F.H. and S.L. carried out protein expression, interaction studies, resonance assignment, NMR interaction and docking studies. M.R. performed protein expression, interaction studies and activity assays.

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Correspondence to Johannes Buchner or Horst Kessler.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Hagn, F., Lagleder, S., Retzlaff, M. et al. Structural analysis of the interaction between Hsp90 and the tumor suppressor protein p53. Nat Struct Mol Biol 18, 1086–1093 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2114

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