Expression of CeHSP17 Protein in Response to Heat Shock and Heavy Metal Ions.

Small heat shock proteins (sHSP) are ubiquitously found in all organisms, and with other heat shock proteins (HSP) such as HSP60, HSP70, HSP90, HSP100 made up the molecular chaperone family. They are involved in a wide range of biological processes which include among others cell resistance to biological and environmental stress conditions. In this study, we show by western blotting that CeHSP17, an sHSP of Caenorhabiditis elegans, is significantly induced by high temperatures. Furthermore, in response to metal stress, the CeHSP17 protein expression was significantly induced by cadmium and zinc at high concentration of clearly cytotoxic range in wild-type C. elegans. Altogether, our results show the involvement of CeHSP17 protein in both environmental and biological stresses in C. elegans and establish for the first time the expression pattern of the CeHSP17 protein in response to thermal and metal stress conditions in C. elegans. The responses of CeHSP17 protein expression may serve as potential sensitive biomarker for metal-induced toxicity monitoring and environmental risk assessment.