Sustaining induced heat shock protein 70 confers biological
thermotolerance: a case in a high-temperature adapted predatory mite
Abstract
Tiny predators, especially like phytoseiid mites, often experience a
host of threats or stresses by fluctuating environmental factors. Heat
acclimation as a superior adaptation strategy critically enhances
abilities for organisms to handle with changing climate, but little is
known about the molecular mechanism determining tolerant plastic
responses in Phytoseiid mites. The relative expression of four
identified HSP70 genes in two strains of Neoseiulus barkeri increased
within a short time in temperature ramping treatment; meanwhile the
expression of NbHSP70-1 and NbHSP70-2 in the conventional strain (CS)
sharply decreased after 4 h displaying distinct contrast with the stable
expression in the high-temperature adapted strain (HTAS). Western blot
analysis showed that the protein level of NbHSP70-1 in CS was
dramatically elevated at 0.5 h and decreased at 6 h at 42°C. Conversely,
in HTAS, NbHSP70-1 was constantly induced and peaked at 6 h changed at
42°C. Furthermore, HSP70 suppression by RNAi knockdown had a greater
influence on the survival of HTAS, causing a higher mortality under high
temperature than CS. The recombinant certain exogenous NbHSP70-1 protein
enhanced the viability of E. coli BL21 under lethal temperature of 50°C.
These results suggested that HSP70 genes were a prominent contributor
promoting the thermotolerance to heat stress and plastic change of HSP70
genes conferred the thermotolerance of HTAS through long-term heat
acclimation. The divergent constitutive regulation of HSP70 to thermal
is conducive to the flexible adaptability of predators in higher trophic
level to trade off under extremely adversity stress.