Members of the 70-kDa family of cellular
stress proteins assit in protein folding by preventing inappropriate intra- and intermolecular interactions during normal
protein synthesis and transport and when cells are exposed to a variety of environmental stresses. During
infection of A31 mouse fibroblasts with polyomavirus, the constitutive form of hsp70, hsc70, coimmunoprecipitated with all three viral
capsid proteins (VP1, VP2, and VP3). In addition, the subcellular location of hsc70 changed from cytoplasmic to nuclear late in
polyomavirus infection, coincident with the nuclear localization of the viral
capsid proteins. VP1 and VP2 expressed in Sf9 insect cells with recombinant baculovirus vectors also coimmunoprecipitated with an hsp70-like
protein, and VP1 expressed in Escherichia coli coimmunoprecipitated with the hsp70 homolog DnaK.
Capsid proteins expressed by in vitro translation coimmunoprecipitated with the
hsc70 protein present in the reticulocyte translation extract. Therefore, the polyomavirus
capsid proteins associate with hsc70 during
virus infection as well as in
recombinant protein expression systems. This association may play a role in preventing the premature assembly of capsids in the cytosol and/or in facilitating the nuclear transport of
capsid protein complexes.