The cellular heat shock response and thermotolerance of fishes ...

• Main Author: Nakano, Kazumi
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0089806; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0089806

The relationship between the cellular heat shock response and thermotolerance was examined in fishes. The first series of experiments was conducted on fishes from various latitudes whose body and water temperatures range from -1.7 °C in Antarctica to 37 °C in the sub-tropical ocean. Although all fishes synthesized 70-kDa heat shock protein (hsp70) under a heat stress, the induction temperature for hsp70 was strongly correlated with the habitat temperature of the species. A higher hsp70 mRNA level at a near-lethal temperature in the Antarctic fish, Trematomus bernacchii, was not associated with a higher level of hsp70. A part of the translational pathway from hsp70 mRNA to hsp70 might have been modified in this species during adaptation to extreme cold. Thus, they might not be able to increase the level of hsp70, at least, immediately after heat shock. I chose the intertidal cottids as model animals to examine the relationship between the level of hsp70 and the thermotolerance of fish in more detail. The ...