Non-equilibrium protein folding and activation by ATP-driven chaperones

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWRecent experimental studies suggest that ATP-driven molecular chaperones can stabilize protein sub-strates in their native structures out of thermal equilibrium. The mechanism of such non-equilibrium protein folding is an open question. Based on available structural and biochemical evidence, I propose here a unifying principle that underlies the conversion of chemical energy from ATP hydrolysis to the conformational free energy associated with protein folding and activation. I demonstrate that non-equilibrium folding requires the chaperones to break at least one of four symmetry conditions. The Hsp70 and Hsp90 chaperones each breaks a different subset of these symmetries and thus they use different mechanisms for non-equilibrium protein folding. I derive an upper bound on the non-equilibrium elevation of the native concentration, which implies that non-equilibrium folding only occurs in slow-folding proteins that adopt an unstable intermediate conformation in binding to ATP-driven chaperones. Contrary to the long-held view of Anfinsens hypothesis that proteins fold to their conformational free energy minima, my results predict that some proteins may fold into thermo-dynamically unstable native structures with the assistance of ATP-driven chaperones, and that the native structures of some chaperone-dependent proteins may be shaped by their chaperone-mediated folding pathways.