Assays to characterize molecular chaperone function in vitro.

Here, we describe a set of assays, using mitochondrial citrate synthase as a model substrate, which are suitable to test for chaperone function of proteins in vitro. Additionally, these assays distinguish between the ability of suppressing the aggregation of diverse substrate proteins by stable interaction (holdase function) and the ability to assist the refolding of substrate proteins (foldase function).