The DegP Protease Chaperone A Molecular Cage with Bouncers

The DegP Protease Chaperone A Molecular Cage with Bouncers 

Cells have developed a sophisticated system of molecular chaperones and proteases to reduce the amount of unfolded or aggregated proteins (Wickner et al. 1999). Chaperones recognize hydrophobic stretches of polypeptides that become surface exposed as a consequence of misfolding or unfolding. If refolding attempts fail, irreversibly damaged polypeptides are removed by proteases. 

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