Cloning and expression of a heat shock protein (HSP) 90 gene in the haemocytes of Crassostrea hongkongensis under osmotic stress and bacterial challenge.

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a highly conserved and multi-functional molecular chaperone that plays an essential role in both cellular metabolism and stress response. Here, we report the cloning of the HSP90 homologue in Crassostrea hongkongensis (ChHSP90) through SSH in combination with RACE from cDNA of haemocytes. The full-length cDNA of ChHSP90 is 2459 bp in length, consisting of a 3', 5'-untranslated region (UTR) and an open reading frame of 2169 bp encoding 722 amino acids. The identity analysis of the amino acid sequence of HSP90 revealed that ChHSP90 is highly conserved. Distribution of ChHSP90 mRNA in gonad, heart, adductor muscle, mantle, gill, digestive gland, and haemocytes suggested that ChHSP90 is ubiquitously expressed. The mRNA levels of ChHSP90 under salinity and bacterial challenges were analyzed by real-time PCR. Under hypo-osmotic treatment, ChHSP90 mRNA in gonad, heart and haemocytes were significantly up-regulated on day 2 and onwards; while in gill, digestive gland and adductor muscle it was significantly down-regulated; the expression in mantle was decreased significantly on day 2 and 3 (P < 0.01), and then up-regulated on day 4 (P < 0.05). Under hyper-osmotic treatment, the mRNA level in gonad, heart, adductor muscle was increased on day 2 and onwards; in gill, it was firstly increased, and then gradually decreased, reaching a minimum on day 3. On day 4, the expression level in gill recovered to pre-treatment level; in mantle and digestive gland, the expression levels were decreased, reaching to the minimum on day 3. During Vibrio alginolyticus challenge, the mRNA level of ChHSP90 increased 3-fold at 4 h post-infection, returned to its pre-challenge level at 6 h post-infection, then was further up-regulated from 8 to 36 h post-infection. These experiments demonstrate that ChHSP90 mRNA is constitutively expressed in various tissues and apparently inducible in haemocytes under salinity and bacterial challenges, suggesting its important role in response to both osmotic stress and bacterial invasion.