Escherichia coli DnaK and GrpE heat shock proteins interact both in vivo and in vitro.

Previous studies have demonstrated that the Escherichia coli dnaK and grpE genes code for heat shock proteins. Both the Dnak and GrpE proteins are necessary for bacteriophage lambda DNA replication and for E. coli growth at all temperatures. Through a series of genetic and biochemical experiments, we have shown that these heat shock proteins functionally interact both in vivo and in vitro. The genetic evidence is based on the isolation of mutations in the dnaK gene, such as dnaK9 and dnaK90, which suppress the Tr- phenotype of bacteria carrying the grpE280 mutation. Coimmunoprecipitation of DnaK+ and GrpE+ proteins from cell lysates with anti-DnaK antibodies demonstrated their interaction in vitro. In addition, the DnaK756 and GrpE280 mutant proteins did not coimmunoprecipitate efficiently with the GrpE+ and DnaK+ proteins, respectively, suggesting that interaction between the DnaK and GrpE proteins is necessary for E. coli growth, at least at temperatures above 43 degrees C. Using this assay, we found that one of the dnaK suppressor mutations, dnaK9, reinstated a protein-protein interaction between the suppressor DnaK9 and GrpE280 proteins.