Advanced NMR methods combined with biophysical techniques have recently provided unprecedented insight into structure and dynamics of molecular chaperones and their interaction with client proteins. These studies showed that several molecular chaperones are able to dissolve aggregation-prone polypeptides in aqueous solution. Furthermore, chaperone-bound clients often feature fluid-like backbone dynamics and chaperones have a denaturing effect on clients. Interestingly, these effects that chaperones have on client proteins resemble the effects of known chaotropic substances. Following this analogy, chaotropicity could be a fruitful concept to describe, quantify and rationalize molecular chaperone function. In addition, the observations raise the possibility that at least some molecular chaperones might share functional similarities with chaotropes. We discuss these concepts and outline future research in this direction.

先进的核磁共振方法与生物物理技术相结合，最近为分子伴侣的结构和动力学及其与客户蛋白质的相互作用提供了前所未有的洞察力。这些研究表明，几种分子伴侣能够溶解水溶液中的易聚集多肽。此外，伴侣绑定的客户通常具有类似流体的骨干动态，并且伴侣对客户具有变性作用。有趣的是，分子伴侣对客户蛋白质的这些影响类似于已知离液物质的影响。按照这个类比，离液性可能是描述、量化和合理化分子伴侣功能的一个富有成效的概念。此外，观察结果提出了至少一些分子伴侣可能与离液剂具有功能相似性的可能性。