The Hsp90 molecular chaperone and its Cdc37 cochaperone help stabilize and activate more than half of the human kinome. However, both the mechanism by which these chaperones assist their "client" kinases and the reason why some kinases are addicted to Hsp90 while closely related family members are independent are unknown. Our structural understanding of these interactions is lacking, as no full-length structures of human Hsp90, Cdc37, or either of these proteins with a kinase have been elucidated. Here we report a 3.9 angstrom cryo-electron microscopy structure of the Hsp90-Cdc37-Cdk4 kinase complex. Surprisingly, the two lobes of Cdk4 are completely separated with the β4-β5 sheet unfolded. Cdc37 mimics part of the kinase N lobe, stabilizing an open kinase conformation by wedging itself between the two lobes. Finally, Hsp90 clamps around the unfolded kinase β5 strand and interacts with exposed N- and C-lobe interfaces, protecting the kinase in a trapped unfolded state. On the basis of this structure and an extensive amount of previously collected data, we propose unifying conceptual and mechanistic models of chaperone-kinase interactions.

Although the structure, function, conformational dynamics, and controlled thermodynamics of proteins are manifested by their corresponding amino acid sequences, the natural rules for molecular design and their corresponding interplay remain obscure. In this study, we focused on the role of internal cavities of proteins in conformational dynamics. We investigated the pressure-induced responses from the cavity-enlarged L99A mutant of T4 lysozyme, using high-pressure NMR spectroscopy. The signal intensities of the methyl groups in the (1)H/(13)C heteronuclear single quantum correlation spectra, particularly those around the enlarged cavity, decreased with the increasing pressure, and disappeared at 200 MPa, without the appearance of new resonances, thus indicating the presence of heterogeneous conformations around the cavity within the ground state ensemble. Above 200 MPa, the signal intensities of >20 methyl groups gradually decreased with the increasing pressure, without the appearance of new resonances. Interestingly, these residues closely matched those sensing a large conformational change between the ground- and high-energy states, at atmospheric pressure. (13)C and (1)H NMR line-shape simulations showed that the pressure-induced loss in the peak intensity could be explained by the increase in the high-energy state population. In this high-energy state, the aromatic side chain of F114 gets flipped into the enlarged cavity. The accommodation of the phenylalanine ring into the efficiently packed cavity may decrease the partial molar volume of the high-energy state, relative to the ground state. We suggest that the enlarged cavity is involved in the conformational transition to high-energy states and in the volume fluctuation of the ground state.

Cellular restriction factors help to defend humans against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV accessory proteins hijack at least three different Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases, which must be activated by the small ubiquitin-like protein NEDD8, in order to counteract host cellular restriction factors. We found that conjugation of NEDD8 to Cullin-5 by the NEDD8-conjugating enzyme UBE2F is required for HIV Vif-mediated degradation of the host restriction factor APOBEC3G (A3G). Pharmacological inhibition of the NEDD8 E1 by MLN4924 or knockdown of either UBE2F or its RING-protein binding partner RBX2 bypasses the effect of Vif, restoring the restriction of HIV by A3G. NMR mapping and mutational analyses define specificity determinants of the UBE2F NEDD8 cascade. These studies demonstrate that disrupting host NEDD8 cascades presents a novel antiretroviral therapeutic approach enhancing the ability of the immune system to combat HIV.

CRISPR-Cas is a prokaryotic adaptive immune system that provides sequence-specific defense against foreign nucleic acids. Here we report the structure and function of the effector complex of the Type III-A CRISPR-Cas system of Thermus thermophilus: the Csm complex (TtCsm). TtCsm is composed of five different protein subunits (Csm1-Csm5) with an uneven stoichiometry and a single crRNA of variable size (35-53 nt). The TtCsm crRNA content is similar to the Type III-B Cmr complex, indicating that crRNAs are shared among different subtypes. A negative stain EM structure of the TtCsm complex exhibits the characteristic architecture of Type I and Type III CRISPR-associated ribonucleoprotein complexes. crRNA-protein crosslinking studies show extensive contacts between the Csm3 backbone and the bound crRNA. We show that, like TtCmr, TtCsm cleaves complementary target RNAs at multiple sites. Unlike Type I complexes, interference by TtCsm does not proceed via initial base pairing by a seed sequence.