Expression of low molecular weight HSP 70 related polypeptides from the symbiotic sea anemone Anemonia viridis forskall in response to heat shock

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies raised against the highly conserved heat shock protein (hsp) 70 failed to detect an equivalent molecular mass homologue in the temperate sea anemone Anemonia viridis and its endosymbiotic zooxanthellae before or after heat shock. Cross-reaction does occur with a heat shock inducible 70 kDa protein in Goniopora djiboutiensis (Vaughan), a subtidal tropical coral. Hsp 70-specific antibodies did recognise 28 kDa and 29 kDa soluble proteins from intertidal A. viridis before and after heat shock. Differential expression of these low molecular mass hsp 70 homologues in intertidal and subtidal populations correlates with thermotolerance. Anemones maintained artificially without endosymbiotic zooxanthellae are capable of synthesising the low molecular mass hsp homologues following heat shock, but do not express them constitutively.