Molecular chaperones

molecular chaperones
A family of cellular proteins that mediate the correct assembly or disassembly of other polypeptides, and in some cases their assembly into oligomeric structures, but which are not components of those final structures. It is believed that chaperone proteins assist polypeptides to self-assemble by inhibiting alternative assembly pathways that produce nonfunctional structures. Some classes of molecular chaperones are the nucleoplasmins, the chaperonins, the heat-shock proteins 70, and the heat-shock proteins 90.