The 90 kDa heat-shock protein (Hsp90) is one of the major stress proteins whose overallstructure remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the influence of divalent cations Mg
2+ andCa
2+ on the hydrodynamic properties and quaternary structure of Hsp90. Using analytical ultracentrifugation,size-exclusion chromatography, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we showed that native Hsp90was mostly dimeric. The Hsp90 dimer had a sedimentation coefficient,
sw,20![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
, of 6.10 ± 0.03 S, whichslightly deviated from the hydrodynamics of a globular protein. Using chemical cross-linking and analyticalultracentrifugation, we showed that Mg
2+ and Ca
2+ induced a tertiary conformational change of Hsp90,leading to a self-association process. In the presence of divalent cations, Hsp90 existed as a mixture ofmonomers, dimers, and tetramers at equilibrium. Finally, to identify Hsp90 domains involved in thisdivalent cation-dependent self-association, we studied the oligomerization state of the N-terminal (positions1-221) of Hsp90, the influence of an N-terminal specific ligand, geldanamycin (GA), and the effect ofC-terminal truncation on the ability of Hsp90 to oligomerize in the presence of divalent cations. Wepreviously showed that GA inhibits Hsp90 heat-induced oligomerization [
Garnier, C., Protasevich, I.,Gilli, R., Tsvetkov, P., Lobachov, V., Peyrot, V., Briand, C., and Makarov, A. (1998)
Biochem. Biophys.Res. Commun. 249, 197-201], but now we observed that GA does not influence divalent cation-dependentoligomerization of Hsp90, suggesting another mechanism. This mechanism involved the C-terminal partof the protein since C-terminally truncated Hsp90 did not oligomerize in the presence of divalent cations.