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Plasmodium falciparum encodes a single cytosolic type I Hsp40 that functionally interacts with Hsp70 and is upregulated by heat shock

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Cell Stress and Chaperones Aims and scope

Abstract

Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and heat shock protein 40 (Hsp40) function as molecular chaperones during the folding and trafficking of proteins within most cell types. However, the Hsp70–Hsp40 chaperone partnerships within the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, have not been elucidated. Only one of the 43 P. falciparum Hsp40s is predicted to be a cytosolic, canonical Hsp40 (termed PfHsp40) capable of interacting with the major cytosolic P. falciparum-encoded Hsp70, PfHsp70. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that PfHsp40 is upregulated under heat shock conditions in a similar pattern to PfHsp70. In addition, PfHsp70 and PfHsp40 reside mainly in the parasite cytosol, as assessed using indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. Recombinant PfHsp40 stimulated the ATP hydrolytic rates of both PfHsp70 and human Hsp70 similar to other canonical Hsp40s of yeast (Ydj1) and human (Hdj2) origin. In contrast, the Hsp40-stimulated plasmodial and human Hsp70 ATPase activities were differentially inhibited in the presence of pyrimidinone-based small molecule modulators. To further probe the chaperone properties of PfHsp40, protein aggregation suppression assays were conducted. PfHsp40 alone suppressed protein aggregation, and cooperated with PfHsp70 to suppress aggregation. Together, these data represent the first cellular and biochemical evidence for a PfHsp70–PfHsp40 partnership in the malaria parasite, and furthermore that the plasmodial and human Hsp70–Hsp40 chaperones possess unique attributes that are differentially modulated by small molecules.

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Abbreviations

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

DAPI:

4′6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole

DMSO:

Dimethyl sulphoxide

Hsp40:

Heat shock protein 40

Hsp70:

Heat shock protein 70

HRP:

Horseradish peroxidase

IPTG:

Isopropyl-1-thio-β-d-galactopyranoside

LB:

Luria–Bertani media

MDH:

Malate dehydrogenase

Ni-NTA:

Nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid beads

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

PMSF:

Phenyl methyl sulphonyl fluoride

SDS–PAGE:

Sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

TRITC:

Tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Arndt laboratory for the gift of purified Rtf1, and Dr. Douglas Cyr for supplying purified Ydj1. This research was funded in part by a NRF Focus Area grant (South Africa (GUN No: 2053542)), and a MRC grant awarded to GLB. The research was also partly funded by a DFG German-African Cooperation Projects in Infectology grant (DFG (Ref: LI 402/12-0)) awarded to GLB, AS, JMP and KL. MB was awarded NRF, Rhodes University and DAAD doctoral bursaries, and LLS a SAMI postdoctoral fellowship. SK is an associated member of the DFG Graduate school GK1216. JLB acknowledges support from the NIH (“The Pittsburgh Center for Kidney Research” (grant DK79307)). The Center for Chemical Methodologies and Library Development at the University of Pittsburgh provided DMT002264 and MAL3-39 and is supported by the NIH/NIGMS (P50 grant GM067082).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Biotechnology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Melissa Botha, Linda L. Stephens & Gregory L. Blatch

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Annette N. Chiang, Patrick G. Needham & Jeffrey L. Brodsky

  3. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa

    Heinrich C. Hoppe

  4. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Simone Külzer, Jude M. Przyborski & Klaus Lingelbach

  5. Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Peter Wipf

  6. Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Zululand, Kwadlangezwa, South Africa

    Addmore Shonhai

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  1. Melissa Botha
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  2. Annette N. Chiang
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Correspondence to Gregory L. Blatch.

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Fig. S1

Protein sequence alignment of PfHsp40, Pfj1 and type I Hsp40 proteins of eukaryotic and prokaryotic origin. Alignments were performed using type I Hsp40 protein sequences from Homo sapiens (Hdj2, NP_001530.1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Ydj1, CAA95937.1), E. coli (DnaJ, P08622.3) and P. falciparum (PfHsp40, PF14_0359/NP_702248.1; and Pfj1, PFD0462w/NP_702750.1). The N-terminal extensions of PfHsp40 and Pfj1, and the C-terminal extension of Pfj1 are shaded in red. The highly conserved J domain is shaded in blue with the conserved HPD, KFK and QKRAA motifs indicated in black boxes. The GF region is shaded in green with the conserved DIF motif highlighted in a black box (Cajo et al. [2006] J. Biol. Chem. 281: 12436–12444). The zinc-finger motifs of the zinc-binding domain (yellow shading) are similarly indicated in black boxes. Residues in bold and indicated by a downward arrow are proposed to be involved in substrate binding (Li and Sha [2005] Biochem. J. 386: 453–460). The CAAX-box motifs of PfHsp40, Ydj1 and Hdj2 are shaded in grey. The region of PfHsp40 used for the generation of peptide-based antibodies is shaded in purple. Conserved identical and similar residues are indicated in the consensus line by asterisks and dots, respectively. The alignment was performed using ClustalW (version 1.83; Chenna et al. [2003] Nucleic Acids Res. 31: 3497–3500) (DOC 46 kb)

Fig. S2

Heterologous expression and purification of PfHsp40. Recombinant His6-PfHsp40 was expressed in E. coli XL1-Blue (pQPfHsp40), and purified by nickel affinity chromatography under denaturing conditions. The different stages of the purification process were examined by 10% SDS–PAGE (upper panels). Lane 1, E. coli XL1-Blue (pQPfHsp40) whole cell lysate fraction, 16 h post-induction; 2, E. coli XL1-Blue (pQPfHsp40) soluble fraction after sonication and treatment with urea and PEI; 3, unbound protein fraction (flow-through); 4, wash fraction using 150 mM imidazole; 5, elution fraction using 1 M imidazole, showing recovery of purified recombinant His6-PfHsp40 at 49 kDa. The presence of the His6-PfHsp40 protein in the various samples was verified by western blot analysis using anti-His tag antibodies (lower panels). This experiment was repeated at least three times (DOC 883 kb)

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Botha, M., Chiang, A.N., Needham, P.G. et al. Plasmodium falciparum encodes a single cytosolic type I Hsp40 that functionally interacts with Hsp70 and is upregulated by heat shock. Cell Stress and Chaperones 16, 389–401 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-010-0250-6

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