Recombinant Expression and Purification of the Cyanobacterial Chaperone HtpG from Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942.

Abstract

The 90 kDa Heat Shock Protein (Hsp90) is an essential and highly conserved molecular chaperone that supports the folding and maturation of a diverse array of client proteins across prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In bacteria, HtpG, the Hsp90 homolog, plays a central role in stress response and protein homeostasis, particularly under high-temperature and other stress conditions. Despite extensive studies on HtpG from E. coli, the biochemical properties and functional roles of cyanobacterial HtpG remain poorly characterized. Here, we focus on HtpG from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 (seHtpG), a model organism for photosynthesis and circadian rhythm research. We developed a method for the overexpression and purification of seHtpG in E. coli, achieving high purity and yield suitable for biochemical and structural studies. Biophysical and biochemical assays show that seHtpG forms dimers and hydrolyzes ATP at a rate of 1.9 ATP/min, 4-fold faster than that of E. coli HtpG. This work establishes seHtpG as a model for studying the roles of HtpG in cyanobacterial protein homeostasis, photosynthesis, and stress response, enabling further exploration of cyanobacterial Hsp90 in ecosystem dynamics and biotechnological applications.