Temperature directly controls functional properties of the DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone system. The rate of the high to low affinity conversion of DnaK shows a non-Arrhenius temperature dependence and above ϳ40°C even decreases. In the same temperature range, the ADP/ATP exchange factor GrpE undergoes an extensive, fully reversible thermal transition (Grimshaw, J. P. A., Jelesarov, I., Schö nfeld, H. J., and Christen, P. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 6098 -6104). To show that this transition underlies the thermal regulation of the chaperone system, we introduced an intersubunit disulfide bond into the paired long helices of the GrpE dimer. The transition was absent in disulfide-linked GrpE R40C but was restored by reduction. With disulfide-stabilized GrpE, the rate of ADP/ATP exchange and conversion of DnaK from its ADP-liganded high affinity R state to the ATP-liganded low affinity T state continuously increased with increasing temperature. With reduced GrpE R40C, the conversion became slower at temperatures >40°C, as observed with wild-type GrpE. Thus, the long helix pair in the GrpE dimer acts as a thermosensor that, by decreasing its ADP/ATP exchange activity, induces a shift of the DnaK⅐substrate complexes toward the high affinity R state and in this way adapts the DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE system to heat shock conditions. Cells respond to an increase in temperature by increased synthesis of heat shock proteins (Hsps).1 Molecular chaperone systems of the Hsp70 family prevent the formation of protein aggregates and facilitate the folding of nascent polypeptide chains and denatured proteins (for comprehensive reviews, see Refs. 1 and 2). DnaK, an Hsp70 homolog of Escherichia coli, binds peptides and segments of denatured proteins in extended conformation (3, 4) and cooperates with two cohort heat shock proteins: DnaJ, an Hsp40 homolog, and GrpE (5). The DnaK/ DnaJ/GrpE chaperone system has been extensively studied in vitro at ambient temperatures (6 -12). DnaK alternates between two states, the ATP-liganded low affinity T state with fast binding and release of the substrate and the ADP-liganded high affinity R state with slow kinetics. A substrate is first bound by T state DnaK, which is then converted to the high affinity R state through DnaJ-triggered hydrolysis of DnaKbound ATP. With the assistance of GrpE, which serves as an ADP/ATP exchange factor, DnaK is reconverted from the R state into the low affinity T state, releasing the substrate.Heat shock proteins, by definition, are induced by a heat shock, i.e. a transient increase in temperature enhances the expression level of chaperones and co-chaperones. The transcription of the genes of DnaK and its co-chaperones DnaJ and GrpE is controlled by the initiation factor 32 of RNA polymerase (for a recent review, see Ref. 13). Recently, we have investigated the direct effect of elevated temperatures on the isolated DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone system. GrpE, which is an elongated homodimer both in solution (14, 15) and in crystalline form (Fig. 1 and Ref. 16), has been found to und...