Importance of a Potential Salt Bridge and Hydrophobic Core in the Function and Oligomerization of a Small Heat Shock Protein

SsHSP14.1, a novel sHSP from the hyper-thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus (S. solfataricus), is reported herein to function to protect EcoR I from heat-induced inactivation. A predicted salt bridge and hydrophobic interactions were found to be important for this function.