While basic mechanisms of several major molecular chaperones are well understood, this machinery has been known to be involved in folding of only limited number of proteins inside the cells. Here, we report a chaperone type of protein folding facilitated by interaction with RNA. When an RNA-binding module is placed at the N-terminus of aggregation-prone target proteins, this module, upon binding with RNA, further promotes the solubility of passenger proteins, potentially leading to enhancement of proper protein folding. Studies on in vitro refolding in the presence of RNA, coexpression of RNA molecules in vivo and the mutants with impaired RNA binding ability suggests that RNA can exert chaperoning effect on their bound proteins. The results suggest that RNA binding could affect the overall kinetic network of protein folding pathway in favor of productive folding over off-pathway aggregation. In addition, the RNA binding-mediated solubility enhancement is extremely robust for increasing soluble yield of passenger proteins and could be usefully implemented for high-throughput protein expression for functional and structural genomic research initiatives. The RNA-mediated chaperone type presented here would give new insights into de novo folding in vivo.

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The fusion of soluble partner to the N terminus of aggregation-prone polypeptide has been popularly used to overcome the formation of inclusion bodies in the E. coli cytosol.The chaperone-like functions of the upstream fusion partner in the artificial multidomain proteins could occur in de novo folding of native multidomain proteins. Here, we show that the N-terminal domains of three E. coli multidomain proteins such as lysyl-tRNA synthetase, threonyl-tRNA synthetase, and aconitase are potent solubility enhancers for various C-terminal heterologous proteins. The results suggest that the N-terminal domains could act as solubility enhancers for the folding of their authentic C-terminal domains in vivo. Tandem repeat of N-terminal domain or insertion of aspartic residues at the C terminus of the N-terminal domain also increased the solubility of fusion proteins, suggesting that the solubilizing ability correlates with the size and charge of N-terminal domains. The solubilizing ability of N-terminal domains would contribute to the autonomous folding of multidomain proteins in vivo, and based on these results, we propose a model of how N-terminal domains solubilize their downstream domains.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the major causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) is known to play a key role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Several cellular proteins have been reported to be over-expressed in HBV-associated HCC tissues, but their role in the HBV-mediated oncogenesis remains largely unknown. Here, we explored the effect of the over-expressed cellular protein, a ribosomal protein S3a (RPS3a), on the HBx-induced NF-κB signaling as a critical step for HCC development. The enhancement of HBx-induced NF-κB signaling by RPS3a was investigated by its ability to translocate NF-κB (p65) into the nucleus and the knock-down analysis of RPS3a. Notably, further study revealed that the enhancement of NF-κB by RPS3a is mediated by its novel chaperoning activity toward physiological HBx. The over-expression of RPS3a significantly increased the solubility of highly aggregation-prone HBx. This chaperoning function of RPS3a for HBx is closely correlated with the enhanced NF-κB activity by RPS3a. In addition, the mutational study of RPS3a showed that its N-terminal domain (1–50 amino acids) is important for the chaperoning function and interaction with HBx. The results suggest that RPS3a, via extra-ribosomal chaperoning function for HBx, contributes to virally induced oncogenesis by enhancing HBx-induced NF-κB signaling pathway.

A novel protein-folding function of RNA has been recognized, which can outperform previously known molecular chaperone proteins. The RNA as a molecular chaperone (chaperna) activity is intrinsic to some ribozymes and is operational during viral infections. Our purpose was to test whether influenza hemagglutinin (HA) can be assembled in a soluble, trimeric, and immunologically activating conformation by means of an RNA molecular chaperone (chaperna) activity. An RNA-interacting domain (RID) from the host being immunized was selected as a docking tag for RNA binding, which served as a transducer for the chaperna function for de novo folding and trimeric assembly of RID-HA1. Mutations that affect tRNA binding greatly increased the soluble aggregation defective in trimer assembly, suggesting that RNA interaction critically controls the kinetic network in the folding/assembly pathway. Immunization of mice resulted in strong hemagglutination inhibition and high titers of a neutralizing antibody, providing sterile protection against a lethal challenge and confirming the immunologically relevant HA conformation. The results may be translated into a rapid response to a new influenza pandemic. The harnessing of the novel chaperna described herein with immunologically tailored antigen-folding functions should serve as a robust prophylactic and diagnostic tool for viral infections.—Yang, S. W., Jang, Y. H., Kwon, S. B., Lee, Y. J., Chae, W., Byun, Y. H., Kim, P., Park, C., Lee, Y. J., Kim, C. K., Kim, Y. S., Choi, S. I., Seong, B. L. Harnessing an RNA-mediated chaperone for the assembly of influenza hemagglutinin in an immunologically relevant conformation.