Accurate prediction of cellular co-translational folding indicates proteins can switch from post- to co-translational folding

作者：Nissley Daniel A; Sharma Ajeet K; Ahmed Nabeel; Friedrich Ulrike A; Kramer Guenter; Bukau Bernd; O'Brien Edward P^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2016, 7(1): 10341.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms10341

The rates at which domains fold and codons are translated are important factors in determining whether a nascent protein will co-translationally fold and function or misfold and malfunction. Here we develop a chemical kinetic model that calculates a protein domain's co-translational folding curve during synthesis using only the domain's bulk folding and unfolding rates and codon translation rates. We show that this model accurately predicts the course of co-translational folding measured in vivo for four different protein molecules. We then make predictions for a number of different proteins in yeast and find that synonymous codon substitutions, which change translation-elongation rates, can switch some protein domains from folding post-translationally to folding co-translationally-a result consistent with previous experimental studies. Our approach explains essential features of co-translational folding curves and predicts how varying the translation rate at different codon positions along a transcript's coding sequence affects this self-assembly process.

• 出版日期2016-2