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The Cellular Functions of Chaperonins

  • Conference paper
Stress Proteins

Abstract

It is apparent that a major sub-set of heat shock proteins assist other polypeptides to maintain, or assume, a conformation required for their correct assembly into biologically active structures (Georgopoulos et al. 1973; Kochan and Murialdo 1983; Goloubinoff et al. 1989; Cheng et al. 1989; Ostermann et al. 1989; Bresnick et al. 1989) or localization (Deshaies et al. 1988; Chirico et al. 1988; Zimmermann et al. 1988; Bochkareva et al. 1988; Lecker et al. 1989). This group of proteins function as molecular chaperones, and they have been defined as proteins which assist the assembly of some oligomeric proteins, but are not components of the final structure (Ellis 1987; Ellis et al. 1989; Ellis and Hemmingsen 1989). One distinct group of related molecular chaperones are found in prokaryotes, mitochondria, and plastids, and are called chaperonins (Hemmingsen et al. 1988). In this chapter we outline the discovery and characterization of chaperonins in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, and also describe recent data that show that these proteins have an important role in protein folding in cells.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Biology Division, Central Research and Development Department, Experimental Station, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, DE, 19880–0402, USA

    Anthony A. Gatenby, Gail K. Donaldson, Pierre Goloubinoff, Robert A. LaRossa, George H. Lorimer, Thomas H. Lubben, Tina K. Van Dyk & Paul V. Viitanen

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  1. Anthony A. Gatenby
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  2. Gail K. Donaldson
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  3. Pierre Goloubinoff
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  4. Robert A. LaRossa
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  5. George H. Lorimer
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  6. Thomas H. Lubben
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  7. Tina K. Van Dyk
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  8. Paul V. Viitanen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, 63110, MO, USA

    Milton J. Schlesinger

  2. Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze Biochimiche, Il Universitá degli Studi di Roma, I-00173, Roma, Italy

    M. Gabriella Santoro  & Enrico Garaci  & 

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gatenby, A.A. et al. (1990). The Cellular Functions of Chaperonins. In: Schlesinger, M.J., Santoro, M.G., Garaci, E. (eds) Stress Proteins. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75815-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75815-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-75817-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-75815-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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