Ligand interactions in the adenosine nucleotide-binding domain of the Hsp90 chaperone, GRP94 I. Evidence for allosteric regulation of ligand binding

X-ray crystallographic studies of the N-terminal domain of Hsp90 have identified an unconventional ATP binding fold, thereby inferring a role for ATP in the regulation of the Hsp90 activity. In this report, N-ethyl-carboxamidoadenosine (NECA) was used to investigate the nucleotide binding properties of GRP94, the endoplasmic reticulum paralog of Hsp90. Whereas Hsp90 did not bind NECA, GRP94 bound NECA in a saturable manner with a K-d of 200 nM. NECA binding to GRP94 was efficiently blocked by geldanamycin and radicicol. Analysis of ligand binding stoichiometries by radioligand and calorimetric techniques indicated that GRP94 bound 1 mol of NECA/mol of GRP94 dimer. In contrast, GRP94 bound radicicol at a stoichiometry of 2 mol of radicicol/mol of GRP94 dimer. In [H-3]NECA displacement assays, GRP94 displayed binding interactions with ATP, dATP, ADP, AMP, cAMP, and adenosine, but not GTP, CTP, or UTP. To accommodate the 0.5 mol of NE-CA:mol of GRP94 binding stoichiometry observed for the native GRP94 dimer, a model for allosteric regulation (negative cooperativity) of ligand binding is proposed. A hypothesis on the regulation of GRP94 conformation and activity by adenosine-based ligand(s) other than ATP and ADP is presented.