The expression of heat-shock genes in higher plants

High-temperature stress or heat shock induces the vigorous synthesis of heat-shock proteins in many organisms including the higher plants. This response has been implicated in the acquisition of thermotolerance. The biological importance of a group of low-molecular-mass proteins in the response of plants is indicated by the conservation of the corresponding genes. The steady-state levels of mRNAs for these proteins shift from undetectable levels at normal temperature to about 20 000 molecules per gene in the cell after heat shock. The analysis of ‘run-off’ transcripts from isolated soybean nuclei suggests a transcriptional control of gene expression. The DNA sequence analysis of soybean heat-shock genes revealed a conservation of promoter sequences and 5'-upstream elements. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of polypeptides showed a conservation of structural features in heat-shock proteins between plants and animals. The implication of a common regulatory concept in the heat-shock response makes genes belonging to this family (15-18 kDa proteins) in soybean favourable candidates for investigating thermoregulation of transcription. We have exploited the natural gene transfer system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens to introduce a soybean heat-shock gene into the genomes of sunflower and tobacco. The gene is thermoinducibly transcribed and transcripts are faithfully initiated in transgenic plants. Experiments are in progress to define the regulatory sequences 5'-upstream from the gene. The expression of heat-shock genes in a heterologous genetic background also provides the basis for studying the function of the proteins and their possible role in thermoprotection.

Genetics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 785-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
E R Waters

Abstract The small heat-shock proteins have undergone a tremendous diversification in plants; whereas only a single small heat-shock protein is found in fungi and many animals, over 20 different small heat-shock proteins are found in higher plants. The small heat-shock proteins in plants have diversified in both sequence and cellular localization and are encoded by at least five gene families. In the study, 44 small heat-shock protein DNA and amino acid sequences were examined, using both phylogenetic analysis and analysis of nucleotide substitution patterns to elucidate the evolutionary history of the small heat-shock proteins. The phylogenetic relationships of the small heat-shock proteins, estimated using parsimony and distance methods, reveal the gene duplication, sequence divergence and gene conversion have all played a role in the evolution of the small heat-shock proteins. Analysis of nonsynonymous substitutions and conservative and radical replacement substitutions )in relation to hydrophobicity) indicates that the small heat-shock protein gene families are evolving at different rates. This suggests that the small heat-shock proteins may have diversified in function as well as in sequence and cellular localization.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (19) ◽  
pp. 12847-12853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel R. Leroux ◽  
Brian J. Ma ◽  
Gérard Batelier ◽  
Ronald Melki ◽  
E. Peter M. Candido

1981 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 3526-3530 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Key ◽  
C. Y. Lin ◽  
Y. M. Chen

1982 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-292
Author(s):  
S C Wadsworth

At least four proteins of 70,000 to 75,000 molecular weight (70-75K) were synthesized from mRNA which hybridized with a cloned heat shock gene previously shown to be localized to the 87A and 87C heat shock puff sites. These in vitro-synthesized proteins were indistinguishable from in vivo-synthesized heat shock-induced proteins when analyzed on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. A comparison of the pattern of this group of proteins synthesized in vivo during a 5-min pulse or during continuous labeling indicates that the 72-75K proteins are probably not kinetic precursors to the major 70K heat shock protein. Partial digestion products generated with V8 protease indicated that the 70-75K heat shock proteins are closely related, but that there are clear differences between them. The partial digestion patterns obtained from heat shock proteins from the Kc cell line and from the Oregon R strain of Drosophila melanogaster are very similar. Genetic analysis of the patterns of 70-75K heat shock protein synthesis indicated that the genes encoding at least two of the three 72-75K heat shock proteins are located outside of the major 87A and 87C puff sites.


1993 ◽  
Vol 339 (1289) ◽  
pp. 271-278 ◽  

Mutadons in the Escherichia coli heat shock genes, dnaK , dnaJ or grpE , alter host DNA and RNA synthesis, degradation of other proteins, cell division and expression of other heat shock genes. They also block the initiation of DNA replication of bacteriophages λ and P1, and the mini-F plasmid. An in vitro λDNA replication system, composed entirely of purified components, enabled us to describe the molecular mechanism of the dnaK , dnaJ and grpE gene products. DnaK , the bacterial hsp 70 homologue, releases λP protein from the preprimosomal complex in an ATP- and DnaJ-dependent reaction (GrpEindependent initiation of λDNA replication). In this paper, I show that, when GrpE is present, λP protein is not released from the preprimosomal complex, rather it is translocated within the complex in such a way that it does not inhibit DnaB helicase activity. Translocation of λP triggers the initiation event allowing DnaB helicase to unwind DNA near the ori λ sequence, leading to efficient λDNA replication. Chaperone activity of the DnaK -DnaJ-GrpE system is first manifested in the selective binding of these heat shock proteins to the preprimosomal complex, followed by its ATP-dependent rearrangement. I show that DnaJ not only tags the preprimosomal complex for recognition by DnaK, but also stabilizes the multi-protein structure. GrpE also participates in the binding of DnaK to the preprimosomal complex by increasing DnaK ’s affinity to those λP proteins which are already associated with DnaJ. After attracting DnaK to the preprimosomal complex, DnaJ and GrpE stimulate the ATPase activity of DnaK , triggering conformational changes in DnaK which are responsible for the rearrangement of proteins in the preprimosomal complex and recycling of these heat shock proteins. The role of DnaK , DnaJ and GrpE in λDNA replication is in sharp contrast to our understanding of their role in the oriC , P1, and probably mini-F DNA replication systems. In the cases of oriC and P1 DNA replication, these heat shock proteins activate initiation factors before they are in contact with DNA, and are not required during the subsequent steps leading to the initiation of DNA replication. The common feature of DnaK , DnaJ and GrpE action in these systems is their ATP-dependent disaggregation or rearrangement of protein complexes formed before or during initiation of DNA replication.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (2) ◽  
pp. 779-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Melly ◽  
Peter Setlow

ABSTRACT Spores of Bacillus subtilis are significantly more resistant to wet heat than are their vegetative cell counterparts. Analysis of the effects of mutations in and the expression of fusions of a coding gene for a thermostable β-galactosidase to a number of heat shock genes has shown that heat shock proteins play no significant role in the wet heat resistance of B. subtilis spores.


2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (5) ◽  
pp. 677-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Tomanek ◽  
George N. Somero

SUMMARYIn our previous studies of heat-shock protein (hsp) expression in congeneric marine gastropods of the genus Tegula, we observed interspecific and acclimation-induced variation in the temperatures at which heat-shock gene expression is induced (Ton). To investigate the factors responsible for these inter- and intraspecific differences in Ton, we tested the predictions of the ‘cellular thermometer’ model for the transcriptional regulation of hsp expression. According to this model, hsps not active in chaperoning unfolded proteins bind to a transcription factor, heat-shock factor-1 (HSF1), thereby reducing the levels of free HSF1 that are available to bind to the heat-shock element, a regulatory element upstream of hsp genes. Under stress, hsps bind to denatured proteins, releasing HSF1, which can now activate hsp gene transcription. Thus, elevated levels of heat-shock proteins of the 40, 70 and 90 kDa families (hsp 40, hsp70 and hsp90, respectively) would be predicted to elevate Ton. Conversely, elevated levels of HSF1 would be predicted to decrease Ton. Following laboratory acclimation to 13, 18 and 23°C, we used solid-phase immunochemistry (western analysis) to quantify endogenous levels of two hsp70 isoforms (hsp74 and hsp72), hsp90 and HSF1 in the low- to mid-intertidal species Tegula funebralis and in two subtidal to low-intertidal congeners, T. brunnea and T. montereyi. We found higher endogenous levels of hsp72 (a strongly heat-induced isoform) at 13 and 18°C in T. funebralis in comparison with T. brunnea and T. montereyi. However, T. funebralis also had higher levels of HSF1 than its congeners. The higher levels of HSF1 in T. funebralis cannot, within the framework of the cellular thermometer model, account for the higher Ton observed for this species, although they may explain why T. funebralis is able to induce the heat-shock response more rapidly than T. brunnea. However, the cellular thermometer model does appear to explain the cause of the increases in Ton that occurred during warm acclimation of the two subtidal species, in which warm acclimation was accompanied by increased levels of hsp72, hsp74 and hsp90, whereas levels of HSF1 remained stable. T. funebralis, which experiences greater heat stress than its subtidal congeners, consistently had higher ratios of hsp72 to hsp74 than its congeners, although the sum of levels of the two isoforms was similar for all three species except at the highest acclimation temperature (23°C). The ratio of hsp72 to hsp74 may provide a more accurate estimate of environmental heat stress than the total concentrations of both hsp70 isoforms.


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