Renaturation of thermally denatured firefly luciferase in rabbit reticulocyte lysate (RRL) requires hsp90, hsc70, and other as yet unidentified RRL components [Schumacher, R.J., et al. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 9493-9499]. Benzoquinonoid ansamycins (BAs) have recently been shown to specifically bind hsp90 and inhibit its function. In this report, we present data that indicate BAs are specific inhibitors of hsp90 function. The effects of the BA geldanamycin (GA) on the kinetics of the luciferase renaturation in RRL were examined to gain insight into the mechanism by which GA inhibits the function of the hsp90 chaperone machinery. Chaperone-mediated renaturation of luciferase obeyed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The GA inhibited luciferase renaturation uncompetitively with respect to ATP concentration and noncompetitively with respect to luciferase concentration, indicating that GA binds after the binding of ATP and that it binds to both the hsp90 chaperone machine/ATP complex and the hsp90 chaperone machine/ATP/luciferase complex. GA markedly decreased the Kapp of the hsp90 chaperone machine for ATP, suggesting that GA increases the binding affinity of the hsp90 chaperone machinery for ATP or it slows the rate of ATP hydrolysis. Consistent with the notion that GA specifically binds hsp90 and inhibits its function, addition of hsp90, but not hsc70, p60, or p23, reversed GA-induced inhibition of luciferase renaturation in RRL. Hsp90, hsc70, and the hsp cohorts p60, p48, and p23 were coimmunoprecipitated with luciferase from RRL. GA increased the steady-state levels of luciferase associated with hsp90/hsp70 chaperone machine complexes that contain p60 and blocked the association of the hsp90 cohort p23 with chaperone-bound luciferase. The data suggest that the function of the hsp90 chaperone machinery is not specific to its previously described interaction with steroid hormone receptors, and that it carries out some more generalized function in vivo.