The solution stru
cture of the 21 kDa substrate-binding domain ofthe
Escherichia coli Hsp70-
chaperone protein DnaK (DnaK 386-561) has been determined to apre
cision of 1.00 Å (ba
ckbone of the
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-domain) from 1075 experimental restraints obtained frommultinu
clear, multidimensional NMRexperiments. The domain is observed to bind to its own C-terminusand offers a preview of the intera
ctionof this
chaperone with other proteins. The bound protein region istightly held at a single amino a
cidposition (a leu
cyl residue) that is buried in a deep po
cket lined with
conserved hydrophobi
c residues. Ase
cond hydrophobi
c binding site was identified using paramagneti
callylabeled peptides. It is lo
cated ina region
close to the N-terminus of the domain and may
constitute theallosteri
c region that links substrate-binding affinity with nu
cleotide binding in the Hsp70
chaperones.