Heat shock 70 kDa protein 1B (HSPA1B)

Molecular chaperone implicated in a wide array of cellular processes, such as protection of the proteome from stress, folding and transport of newly synthesized polypeptides, activation of proteolysis of misfolded proteins and the formation and dissociation of protein complexes. Plays a pivotal role in the protein quality control system, ensuring the correct folding of proteins, the re-folding of misfolded proteins and controlling the targeting of proteins for subsequent degradation.

This is accomplished through cycles of ATP binding, ATP hydrolysis and ADP release, mediated by co-chaperones. The co-chaperones have been shown to not only regulate different steps of the ATPase cycle, but they also have an individual specificity such that one co-chaperone may promote folding of a parasite while another may promote degradation.