Intrinsic ADP-ATP exchange activity is a novel function of the molecular chaperone, Hsp70.

Hsp70 is a multifunctional molecular chaperone whose interactions with protein substrates are regulated by ATP hydrolysis and ADP-ATP exchange. We show here that, in addition to ATPase activity, purified Hsp70 free from nucleoside-diphosphate (NDP) kinase exhibits intrinsic ADP-ATP exchange activity. The rate constants for ATP hydrolysis and ATP synthesis were in a similar range at the optimum pH of 7.5-8.5 in the presence of 5 mM ATP and 0.5 mM ADP. Hsp70 exhibited a considerably strict preference for ATP as a phosphate donor, and a biased substrate specificity, unlike NDP kinase; ADP, UDP, CDP > dTDP, dCDP > GDP, dGDP. During the reaction, Hsp70 formed an acid-labile autophosphorylated intermediate, and nucleoside diphosphate-dependent dephosphorylation of the latter then occurred. These properties of Hsp70 are not identical but similar to those of NDP kinase, but are not similar to those of adenylate kinase and ATP synthase.