The methionine-rich low-molecular-weight chloroplast heat-shock protein: evolutionary conservation and accumulation in relation to thermotolerance.

The evolutionary conservation of the low-molecular-weight chloroplast-localized heat-shock protein (LMW chlpHsp) in vascular plants was examined using immunological methods. An antibody (Abmet) specific to the LMW chlpHsp was produced using a synthetic 28-residue peptide containing the most conserved elements of its unique "methionine-rich domain" as an antigen. This antibody detected a heat-inducible low-molecular-weight chloroplast protein in plants of six divergent Anthophyta species, including C3, C4, CAM, monocot, and dicot species. Abmet also detected a LMW chlpHsp in species from the Divisions Psilotophyta, Equisetophyta, Polypodiophyta, and Ginkgophyta. A preliminary examination of the relationship between accumulation of the LMW chlpHsp and habitat was also conducted. Seven Anthophyta species originating from both warm- and cool-temperature habitats were grown at 28C and then heat stressed at 40C. A positive qualitative relationship between the accumulation of the LMW chlpHsp and organismal thermotolerance in these species was observed; similar results were obtained separately with four nonAnthophyta species. The strong evolutionary conservation of this LMW Hsp and its localization to the chloroplast, and the correlation between production of this protein and plant thermotolerance, suggest that the LMW chlpHsp plays an important role in adaptation to heat stress.