Heat Shock Protein Reports on Proteome Stress

Proper regulation of protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is essential to maintain cellular fitness. Proteome stress causes imbalance of the proteostasis, leading to various diseases represented by neurodegenerative diseases, cancers, and metabolic disorders. The biosensor community recently embarked on the development of proteome stress sensors to report on the integrity of proteostasis in live cells. While most of these sensors are based on metastable mutants of specific client proteins, a recent sensor takes advantage of the specific association of heat shock protein 27 with protein aggregates and exhibits a diffusive to punctate fluorescent change in cells that are subjected to stress conditions. Thus, heat shock proteins can be also used as a family of sensors to monitor proteome stress.