Sliced Chaperonin

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Chaperonin complex from Escherichia coli. Misfolded proteins are refolded inside the cavity formed by this 21 protein complex. The blue and yellow rings (GroEL) each consist of 7 copies of the same protein, while the red cap (GroES) is composed of 7 copies of a different protein. The two rings of GroEL exhibit different conformations. The 3 domains of the monomeric protein are positioned differently in the two rings as shown in the images below.

Protein Data Bank model 1aon.