Disruption of the three cytoskeletal networks in mammalian cells does not affect transcription, translation, or protein translocation changes induced by heat shock.

Mammalian cells show a complex series of transcriptional and translational switching events in response to heat shock treatment which ultimately lead to the production and accumulation of a small number of proteins, the so-called heat shock (or stress) proteins. We investigated the heat shock response in both qualitative and quantitative ways in cells that were pretreated with drugs that specifically disrupt one or more of the three major cytoskeletal networks. (These drugs alone, cytochalasin E and colcemid, do not result in induction of the heat shock response.) Our results indicated that disruption of the actin microfilaments, the vimentin-containing intermediate filaments, or the microtubules in living cells does not hinder the ability of the cell to undergo an apparently normal heat shock response. Even when all three networks were simultaneously disrupted (resulting in a loose, baglike appearance of the cells), the cells still underwent a complete heat shock response as assayed by the appearance of the heat shock proteins. In addition, the major induced 72-kilodalton heat shock protein was efficiently translocated from the cytoplasm into its proper location in the nucleus and nucleolus irrespective of the condition of the three cytoskeletal elements.