Cloning and Characterization of the HSP70 Gene, and Its Expression in Response to Diapauses and Thermal Stress in the Onion Maggot, Delia antiqua

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The cytosolic members of the HSP70 family of proteins play key roles in the molecular chaperone machinery of the cell. In the study we cloned and sequenced the fulllength cDNA of Delia antiqua HSP70 gene, which is 2461 bp long and encodes 643 a.a. with a calculated molecular mass of 70,787 Da. We investigated gene copies of cytosolic HSP70 members of 4 insect species with complete genome available, and found that they are quite variable with species. In order to characterize this protein we carried out an alignment and a phylogenetic analysis with 41 complete protein sequences from insects. The analysis divided the cytosolic members of the family into two classes, HSP70 and HSC70, distinguishable on the basis of 15 residues. HSP70 class members were slightly shorter in length and smaller in molecular mass relative to the HSC70 class members, and the conservative and functional regions in these sequences were documented. Mainly, we investigated the expression of Delia antiqua HSP70 gene, in response to diapauses and thermal stresses. Both summer and winter diapauses elevated HSP70 transcript levels. Cold-stress led to increased HSP70 expression levels in summer- and winter-diapausing pupae, but heat-stress elevated the levels only in the winter-diapausing pupae. In all cases, the expression levels, after being elevated, gradually decreased with time. HSP70 expression was low in non-diapausing pupae but was up-regulated following cold- and heatstresses. Heat-stress gradually increased the mRNA level with time whereas cold-stress gradually decreased levels after an initial increase.