Tandem repeats of highly bioluminescent NanoLuc are refolded noncanonically by the Hsp70 machinery

Chaperones are a large family of proteins crucial for maintaining cellular protein homeostasis. One such chaperone is the 70 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp70), which plays a crucial role in protein (re)folding, stability, functionality, and translocation. While the key events in the Hsp70 chaperone cycle are well established, a relatively small number of distinct substrates were repetitively investigated. This is despite Hsp70 engaging with a plethora of cellular proteins of various structural properties and folding pathways. Here we analyzed novel Hsp70 substrates, based on tandem repeats of NanoLuc (Nluc), a small and highly bioluminescent protein with unique structural characteristics. In previous mechanical unfolding and refolding studies, we have identified interesting misfolding propensities of these Nluc-based tandem repeats. In this study, we further investigate these properties through in vitro bulk experiments. Similar to monomeric Nluc, engineered Nluc dyads and triads proved to be highly bioluminescent. Using the bioluminescence signal as the proxy for their structural integrity, we determined that heat-denatured Nluc dyads and triads can be efficiently refolded by the E. coli Hsp70 chaperone system, which comprises DnaK, DnaJ, and GrpE. In contrast to previous studies with other substrates, we observed that Nluc repeats can be efficiently refolded by DnaK and DnaJ, even in the absence of GrpE co-chaperone. Taken together, our study offers a new powerful substrate for chaperone research and raises intriguing questions about the Hsp70 mechanisms, particularly in the context of structurally diverse proteins.