Proteomics effects of HSP60 deficiency in HEK cells, using an inducible transgenic HSP60 ATPase deficient mutant.

To investigate the immediate effect of HSP60 dysfunction on mitochondrial functions, we induced the expression of a dominant-negative ATPase-deficient HSP60 mutant (HSP60-D423A) in HEK293 cells using tetracycline . Incorporation of HSP60-D423A subunits into HSP60 heptamer rings leads to dysfunction of the chaperonin complex. We titrated tetracycline levels to have a biologically relevant cellular model that can be monitored over time. Expression of the HSP60-D432A protein resulted in significantly reduced cell counts at 72 hours induction compared to uninduced and HSP60-WT co-expressing cells. To study the effects of onset of HSP60 deficiency, we monitored the proteomics changes using TMT based proteomics.