Chaperones

Chaperones were originally identified in the mid-1980s from studies of protein folding and assembly in plant chloroplasts. A new protein was identified that was required for correct folding of a large enzyme complex in chloroplasts, yet the mysterious protein was not associated with the final assembled complex. It was quickly determined that this "chaperone" protein directing correct assembly was identical to one of the many proteins expressed at high levels when cells are grown at high temperatures (hence the common alternative name, "heat-shock protein," or Hsp).

It was later discovered that chaperones recognize the non-native, partially misfolded states of proteins that accumulate during high temperature stress. Most chaperones are also abundantly expressed under normal cell growth conditions, where they recognize non-native conformations occurring during both protein synthesis (prior to correct polypeptide chain folding), and later misfolding events.