Mechanistic Asymmetry in Hsp90 Dimers

Hsp90 is a molecular chaperone that facilitates the maturation of signaling proteins including many kinases and steroid hormone receptors. Through these client proteins, Hsp90 is a key mediator of many physiological processes and has emerged as a promising drug target in cancer. Additionally, Hsp90 can mask or potentiate the impact of mutations in clients with remarkable influence on evolutionary adaptations. The influential roles of Hsp90 in biology and disease have stimulated extensive research into the molecular mechanism of this chaperone. These studies have shown that Hsp90 is a homodimeric protein that requires ATP hydrolysis and a host of accessory proteins termed co-chaperones to facilitate the maturation of clients to their active states. Flexible hinge regions between its three structured domains enable Hsp90 to sample dramatically distinct conformations that are influenced by nucleotide, client, and co-chaperone binding. While it is clear that Hsp90 can exist in symmetrical conformations, recent studies have indicated that this homodimeric chaperone can also assume a variety of asymmetric conformations and complexes that are important for client maturation. The visualization of Hsp90-client complexes at high resolution together with tools to independently manipulate each subunit in the Hsp90 dimer are providing new insights into the asymmetric function of each subunit during client maturation.