Molecular Characterization of Heat-Induced HSP11.0 and Master-Regulator HSF from <i>Cotesia chilonis</i> and Their Consistent Response to Heat Stress

• Main Authors: Fu-Jing He, Feng Zhu, Ming-Xing Lu, Yu-Zhou Du
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Insects
• Subjects: small heat shock proteins; heat shock factors; <i>Cotesia chilonis</i>; temperature stress; gene expression
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/4/322

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are members of the heat shock protein (HSP) family that play an important role in temperature stress, and heat shock factors (HSFs) are transcriptional activators that regulate HSP expression. <i>Cotesia chilonis</i>, the major endoparasitoid of <i>Chilo suppressalis</i>, modulates the <i>C. suppressalis</i> population in the field. In this study, we cloned and characterized two genes from <i>C.</i><i>chilonis</i>: the heat-induced HSP11.0 gene (<i>Cchsp11.0</i>) that consisted of a 306-bp ORF, and the master regulator HSF (<i>Cchsf</i>) containing an 1875-bp ORF. <i>Cc</i>HSP11.0 contained a chaperonin cpn10 signature motif that is conserved in other hymenopteran insects. <i>Cc</i>HSF is a typical HSF and contains a DNA-binding domain, two hydrophobic heptad repeat domains, and a C-terminal trans-activation domain. Neither <i>Cchsp11.0</i> or <i>Cchsf</i> contain introns. Real-time quantitative PCR revealed that <i>Cchsp11.0</i> and <i>Cchsf</i> were highly induced at 36 °C and 6 °C after a 2-h exposure. Overall, the induction of <i>Cchsf</i> was lower than <i>Cchsp11.0</i> at low temperatures, whereas the opposite was true at high temperatures. In conclusion, both <i>Cchsp11.0</i> and <i>Cchsf</i> are sensitive to high and low temperature stress, and the expression pattern of the two genes were positively correlated during temperature stress.