ER-associated degradation (ERAD) removes defective and mis-folded proteins from the eukaryotic secretory pathway, but mutations in the ER lumenal Hsp70, BiP/Kar2p, compromise ERAD efficiency in yeast. Because attenuation of ERAD activates the UPR, we screened for kar2 mutants in which the unfolded protein response (UPR) was induced in order to better define how BiP facilitates ERAD. Among the kar2 mutants isolated we identified the ERAD-specific kar2-1 allele (Brodsky et al. J. Biol. Chem. 274,(3453)(3454)(3455)(3456)(3457)(3458)(3459)(3460). The kar2-1 mutation resides in the peptide-binding domain of BiP and decreases BiP's affinity for a peptide substrate. Peptide-stimulated ATPase activity was also reduced, suggesting that the interdomain coupling in Kar2-1p is partially compromised. In contrast, Hsp40 cochaperone-activation of Kar2-1p's ATPase activity was unaffected. Consistent with UPR induction in kar2-1 yeast, an ERAD substrate aggregated in microsomes prepared from this strain but not from wild-type yeast. Overexpression of wild-type BiP increased substrate solubility in microsomes obtained from the mutant, but the ERAD defect was exacerbated, suggesting that simply retaining ERAD substrates in a soluble, retro-translocationcompetent conformation is insufficient to support polypeptide transit to the cytoplasm.
INTRODUCTIONBefore being delivered to their ultimate locations, secreted proteins are monitored by a quality control "machine" associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER; reviewed by Ellgaard et al., 1999); aberrant polypeptides may be retrotranslocated from the ER to the cytoplasm and destroyed by the proteasome in a process termed ER-associated degradation (ERAD; McCracken and Brodsky, 1996). The importance of defining the molecular mechanism of ERAD is underscored by the fact that several human diseases arise from the accumulation or accelerated degradation of ERAD substrates and because some bacterial toxins and viruses coopt the ERAD pathway to exert their effects (reviewed in Thomas et al., 1995;Aridor and Hannan, 2000;Fewell et al., 2001).ERAD may result from inefficient protein folding, so it is not surprising that molecular chaperones are required for this process. Chaperones prevent the formation of off-pathway intermediates or directly catalyze folding and have been proposed to "judge" whether a nascent protein will ultimately fold or whether it should be targeted for degradation (reviewed by Hayes and Dice, 1996;Hartl, 1996;Horwich et al., 1999;Plemper and Wolf, 1999;Rö misch, 1999;Wickner et al., 1999;Fewell et al., 2001;Hö hfeld et al., 2001). Hsp70 (heat shock proteins with a molecular mass of ϳ70 kDa) molecular chaperones hydrolyze ATP concomitant with the binding of peptides with overall hydrophobic character (Flynn et al., 1991;Blond-Elguindi et al., 1993;Rü diger et al., 1997); therefore, Hsp70s might retain the solubility of unfolded, retro-translocating polypeptides during their voyage from the ER to the cytoplasm via the Sec61p translocation channel or might "gate" this c...