Calnexin, Calreticulin, and Bip/Kar2p in Protein Folding (original) (raw)

1. D.N. Hebert,
2. J.F. Simons,
3. J.R. Peterson, and
4. A. Helenius
5. Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

Excerpt

The generation of new proteins in the cell involves a series of processes that reach well beyond the end point implied by the so-called “central dogma” of molecular biology: DNA→RNA→polypeptide. It is not enough that the amino acids are linked correctly to form polypeptide chains. The chains have to be folded, often assembled into oligomeric complexes, and transported to the correct location within or outside the cell. Although the cellular mechanisms for dealing with the “folding problem” and the “sorting problem” remain incompletely understood, it is clear that the cellular machinery involved in folding and sorting is no less complex than that responsible for transcription and translation.

Our work focuses on folding, assembly, and sorting of newly synthesized proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). As in other compartments of the cell where protein maturation takes place, the acquisition of a correct three-dimensional structure in the ER is not a spontaneous,...