A panel of 15 Mycobacterium marinum isolates was characterized by biochemical tests, sequencing the ribosomal DNA intergenic spacer (ITS) region and the heat shock protein 65 gene (hsp65) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The biochemical characteristics of all isolates were similar, except for Tween 80 hydrolysis. DNA sequence of hsp65 for a subset of isolates were identical; however...

A prime-boost strategy conserving BCG is considered the most promising vaccine to control tuberculosis. A boost with a DNA vaccine containing the mycobacterial gene of a heat shock protein (pVAXhsp65) after BCG priming protected mice against experimental tuberculosis. However, anti-hsp65 immunity could worsen an autoimmune disease due to molecular mimicry. In this investigation, we evaluated th...

We have identified a murine B-cell lymphoma cell line, CH1, that has a much-diminished capacity to express increased levels of heat shock proteins in response to heat stress in vitro. In particular, these cells cannot synthesize the inducible 72-kDa heat shock protein (HSP72) which is normally expressed at high levels in stressed cells. We show here that CH1 fails to transcribe HSP72 mRNA after...

Molecular chaperones (heat shock proteins) are important components of cellular networks, such as protein-protein and gene regulatory networks. Chaperones participate in the folding of immunologically important proteins, presentation of antigens and activation of the immune system. Here, we propose that chaperone-related immune dysfunction might be more general than was previously thought. Muta...

The cell of the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae contains a single chloroplast and mitochondrion, the division of which is tightly synchronized by a light/dark cycle. The genome content is extremely simple, with a low level of genetic redundancy, in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In addition, transient transformation and stable transformation by homologous recombination have been report...

Mouse L cells were transformed with a cloned 3.6-kilobase (kb) segment of Drosophila melanogaster DNA carrying the 2.25-kb transcribed sequence for the Drosophila 70,000-dalton heat shock protein (hsp70) and 1.1 kb and 0.2 kb of 5' and 3' flanking DNA, respectively. Heat shock of one of three such transformed cell lines containing multiple copies of the intact Drosophila segment induced the abu...

Despite its eponymous association with the heat shock response, yeast heat shock factor 1 (Hsf1) is essential even at low temperatures. Here we show that engineered nuclear export of Hsf1 results in cytotoxicity associated with massive protein aggregation. Genome-wide analysis revealed that Hsf1 nuclear export immediately decreased basal transcription and mRNA expression of 18 genes, which pred...

Temperature-sensitive mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were isolated by insertional mutagenesis using the HIS3 marked retrotransposon TyH3HIS3. In such mutants, the TyHIS3 insertions are expected to identify loci which encode genes essential for cell growth at high temperatures but dispensable at low temperatures. Five mutations were isolated and named hit for high temperature growth. The hi...

Temperature is important for mosquito development and physiological response. Several genes of heat shock protein (HSP) families are known to be expressed in mosquitoes and may be crucial in responding to stress induced by elevated temperature. Suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was used to identify target transcripts to heat shock treatment in female Aedes aegypti. Subtraction was per...

Gaucher disease is caused by mutations in the glucosidase, beta, acid gene that encodes glucocerebrosidase (GCase). Glucosidase, beta, acid mutations often cause protein misfolding and quantitative loss of GCase. In the present study, we found that celastrol, an herb derivative with known anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activity, significantly increased the quantity and catalytic...