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Heat-Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) Expression in Four Limpets of the Genus Lottia: Interspecific Variation in Constitutive and Inducible Synthesis Correlates With in situ Exposure to Heat Stress

¹ Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California 93950-3094
² The Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Fisheries College, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, People's Republic of China 266003

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: somero{at}stanford.edu

Limpets of the genus Lottia occupy a broad vertical distribution on wave-exposed rocky shores, a range that encompasses gradients in the frequency and severity of thermal and desiccation stress brought on by aerial emersion. Using western blot analysis of levels of heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70), we examined the heat-shock responses of four Lottia congeners: Lottia scabra and L. austrodigitalis, which occur in the high-intertidal zone, and L. pelta and L. scutum, which are restricted to the low- and mid-intertidal zones. Our results suggest distinct strategies of Hsp70 expression in limpets occupying different heights and orientations in the rocky intertidal zone. In freshly field-collected animals and in specimens acclimated at ambient temperature (14 °C) for 14 days, the two high-intertidal species had higher constitutive levels of Hsp70 than the low- and mid-intertidal species. During aerial exposure to high temperatures, the two low-shore species and L. austrodigitalis exhibited an onset of Hsp70 expression at 28 °C; no induction of Hsp70 occurred in L. scabra. Our findings suggest that high-intertidal congeners of Lottia employ a "preparative defense" strategy involving maintenance of high constitutive levels of Hsp70 in their cells as a mechanism for protection against periods of extreme and unpredictable heat stress.

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				Y. Dong and G. N. Somero Temperature adaptation of cytosolic malate dehydrogenases of limpets (genus Lottia): differences in stability and function due to minor changes in sequence correlate with biogeographic and vertical distributions J. Exp. Biol., January 15, 2009; 212(2): 169 - 177. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]