Stepwise disassembly and apparent nonstepwise reassembly for the oligomeric RbsD protein

Many cellular proteins exist as homo-oligomers. The mechanism of the assembly process of such proteins is still poorly understood. We have previously observed that Hsp16.3, a protein exhibiting chaperone-like activity, undergoes stepwise disassembly and nonstepwise reassembly. Here, the disassembly and reassembly of a nonchaperone protein RbsD, from Escherichia coli, was studied in vitro. The protein was found to mainly exist as decamers with a small portion of apparently larger oligomeric forms, both of which are able to refold/reassemble effectively in a spontaneous way after being completely unfolded. Disassembly RbsD intermediates including pentamers, tetramers, trimers, dimers, and monomers were detected by using urea-containing pore gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, while only pentamers were detected for its reassembly. The observation of stepwise disassembly and apparent nonstepwise reassembly for both a chaperone protein (Hsp16.3) and a nonchaperone protein (RbsD) strongly suggests that such a feature is most likely general for homooligomeric proteins.