Heat Shock Proteins and Whole Body Adaptation to Extreme Environments

233 Pages·2014·5.36 MB·English

by  Michael B. Evgen'ev

Michael B. Evgen'ev · David G. Garbuz
Olga G. Zatsepina
Heat Shock Proteins
and Whole Body
Adaptation to Extreme
Environments
Heat Shock Proteins and Whole Body Adaptation
to Extreme Environments

Michael B. Evgen’ev (cid:129) David G. Garbuz
Olga G. Zatsepina
Heat Shock Proteins and
Whole Body Adaptation
to Extreme Environments
Michael B. Evgen’ev Olga G. Zatsepina
Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology
Russian Academy of Sciences Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow Moscow
Russia Russia
David G. Garbuz
Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology
Russian Academy of Sciences
Moscow
Russia
ISBN 978-94-017-9234-9 ISBN 978-94-017-9235-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9235-6
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014952793
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
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This book is dedicated to Khayot Ulmasov,
Ph.D., for his pioneer fi eld studies of heat
shock response in desert animals.

Pref ace
T he authors are well suited to write such a book, having studied large natural
populations at the organismal and molecular levels of the heat shock response. Even
during the heyday of the molecular biology of heat shock genes and proteins using
model organisms, our authors recognized the value of comparative analyses of evo-
lutionarily closely related and more distant wild species from thermally different
environments. In the Introduction, they included Susan Lindquist’s prescient state-
ment from 1986, “in order to master the control of thermoresistance of a living
organism, it is necessary to understand how nature did it in the course of evolution.”
Why are model laboratory organisms insuffi cient for this purpose? Model organ-
isms are inbred genetically to the point where one can truly speak of the genome of
a particular inbred stain. Such a unique set of genetic alleles may be a minority
genome or not exist at all in a natural population of the organism. Given what we
know now about allelic interactions and their effects on the control of gene expres-
sion and therefore the physiological diversity of wild populations, this matters a
great deal in trying to understand a state such as acquired thermotolerance or stress
conditioning as it is sometimes called. Our knowledge of organismal thermoresis-
tance based on model laboratory strains is certain to be incomplete at best and mis-
leading at worst. Understanding the deployment of inducible defenses in natural
populations will be key to evaluating the effects of deepening environmental stress
such as the threat of global warming to natural populations.
T he Chapters begin with a historical chapter on the discovery of the heat shock
response and up-to-date descriptions, classifi cations, and nomenclature of the major
groups of heat shock genes and proteins. The molecular functions of heat shock
proteins are discussed in Chap. 2 . The color illustrations in this chapter of molecular
pathways and interactions are particularly clear. Investigators newly trained in the
methods of modern molecular biology and genetics began an intensive study of heat
shock genes and their encoded proteins shortly after the discovery of these proteins
by Alfred Tissières and coworkers in 1974. It is important to note that just as fi eld
studies of wild populations will have an expanding role in future studies of their
integrated responses to environmental stress, model organisms with useful genetic
systems and accessible biochemistry have been invaluable to the dramatic progress
vii
viii Preface
made in understanding the basic science of the heat shock genes and proteins along
with the rise of molecular chaperones. The regulation of heat shock gene expression
is covered in Chap. 3 . This is another area in which progress has been dramatic with
the discovery of additional members of the HSF family, new accessory factors, and
interactions among a variety of cellular pathways and HSFs to form integrated
response networks. In addition, important post-transcriptional regulatory points are
described. With Chap. 4 , readers will move on to the environmental studies begin-
ning with a summary of the roles of heat shock proteins in adaptation to variable and
extreme environments. The authors go beyond heat shock proteins to bring up addi-
tional molecules that provide protection such as thermoresistance and the variety of
mechanisms used by different organisms for cellular defense. Here, they begin a
presentation of their comprehensive studies of lizard species from the deserts of
Turkmenistan and from temperate climates. Most if not all of the major comparative
studies of organisms in a variety of different environments including parasites and
hibernating animals have been included. A very helpful summary of the various
adaptations in different organisms is presented at the end of this chapter. Different
trends in the evolution of heat shock genes are discussed in Chap. 5 . These differ-
ences appear to provide optimum responses to changing environments. Chap. 6 cov-
ers the role of mobile genetic elements in the evolution and function of heat shock
protein systems. The authors have many years of experience studying Drosophila
mobile genetic elements. Not surprisingly, ancient genes like the heat shock genes
have collected over evolutionary time their fair share of mobile genetic elements
along with interactions with other ancient defense mechanisms such as RNA inter-
ference. Near the end of the book (Chap. 7 ) , the authors tie together some loose ends
by describing the details of fi ne-tuning of promoters of heat shock genes that
occurred during the divergence of species and taxa along with their adaptation to
rapidly changing thermal conditions. Heat shock regulatory regions have been the
darlings of evolutionary tinkering in contrast to the well-conserved coding
sequences. But even these vary considerably in their rates of evolutionary change
even within the same organism. In the fi nal chapter, the authors survey mutational
approaches to studying the function of individual heat shock genes and proteins in
thermal adaptation and stress resistance mostly in yeast and Drosophila.
An important purpose behind the writing of this book according to the authors in
their own words is “to give credit to our deceased co-workers and dear friends Dr.
Khayot Ulmasov and Dr. Vladimir Lyashko who actively participated in the project
from the very beginning and whose enthusiasm made possible the collection of vari-
ous animal species and their analysis in the fi eld under extremely unfavorable con-
ditions of Turkmenistan deserts.” Indeed, this book is a fi tting tribute.
I t is recommended for researchers at the level of postdoctoral fellows and gradu-
ate students in the fi elds of ecology, biogeography, evolution, molecular biology,
and genetics.
Storrs, CT Larry Hightower
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Drs. Boris A. Margulis, Andrey A. Przhiboro, Brian
R. Bettencourt, Alexei Morozov and Dmitriy Panteleev for useful comments and
suggestions on this manuscript.
ix