Confocal microscopy images revealed that the tetratricopeptide repeat motif (TPR) domain immunophilin FKBP51 shows colocalization with the specific mitochondrial marker MitoTracker. Signal specificity was tested with different antibodies and by FKBP51 knockdown. This unexpected subcellular localization of FKBP51 was confirmed by colocalization studies with other mitochondrial proteins, biochemical fractionation, and electron microscopy imaging. Interestingly, FKBP51 forms complexes in mitochondria with the glucocorticoid receptor and the Hsp90/Hsp70-based chaperone heterocomplex. Although Hsp90 inhibitors favor FKBP51 translocation from mitochondria to the nucleus in a reversible manner, TPR domain-deficient mutants of FKBP51 are constitutively nuclear and fully excluded from mitochondria, suggesting that a functional TPR domain is required for its mitochondrial localization. FKBP51 overexpression protects cells against oxidative stress, whereas FKBP51 knockdown makes them more sensitive to injury. In summary, this is the first demonstration that FKBP51 is a major mitochondrial factor that undergoes nuclearmitochondrial shuttling, an observation that may be related to antiapoptotic mechanisms triggered during the stress response.Immunophilins comprise a family of intracellular proteins classified by their ability to bind immunosuppressant drugs. Thus, cyclophilins bind cyclosporine A, whereas FK506-binding proteins (FKBPs) 3 bind FK506. The signature domain of the family is the PPIase domain, which shows peptidylprolyl-cis/ trans-isomerase enzymatic activity in most of the members of the family and is also the binding site of the drug. The low molecular weight immunophilins FKBP12 and CyPA are related to the immunosuppressive effect when the drug⅐ immunophilin complex inhibits the Ser/Thr-phosphatase activity of PP2B (calcineurin). On the other hand, high molecular weight immunophilins do not play a significant role in immunosuppression. This subfamily shows the FKBP12-like PPIase domains 1 and 2 (also called FK1 and FK2) and the tetratricopeptide repeat motif (TPR) domains (1, 2), which contain degenerative sequences of 34 amino acids repeated in tandem through which they bind to Hsp90. The FK1 domain is responsible for the ability of the proteins to bind FK506 and to confer enzymatic activity (3), and it is also the primary regulatory domain required for steroid hormone receptor regulation (4).TPR domain proteins exhibit a large degree of sequence diversity, but the structural comparison reveals a highly conserved three-dimensional structure. Individual TPR domains are composed of two antiparallel ␣-helices separated by a turn. Multiple TPR domains arrange at regular angles and form a right-handed superhelix. This creates a groove with a large amount of surface area available for ligand binding (5, 6). Multiprotein complexes are assembled via this 34-amino acid scaffold motif. In addition to high molecular weight immunophilins, the TPR family includes a large variety of several factors such as the anaphase-p...