Hsc66, an Hsp70 homolog in Escherichia coli, is induced by cold shock but not by heat shock.

Hsc66 is the second identified Hsp70 protein in Escherichia coli. Mutations in hscA, the gene encoding Hsc66, compensate for some phenotypic effects of a mutation in hns, a gene encoding the cold-inducible, nucleoid-associated protein H-NS. Expression of hscA was not induced upon heat shock but was induced approximately 11-fold 3 h after a shift from 37 to 10 degrees C. Furthermore, hscA was induced upon chloramphenicol addition, which induces the synthesis of other cold-inducible genes. Mapping of the transcription initiation site showed that hscA was cotranscribed with an upstream dnaJ-like gene, hscB; thus, hscB was also cold inducible. The hscBA promoter did not contain a Y-box element found in some cold-inducible promoters. Using two-dimensional electrophoresis, we identified Hsc66 under static 37 degrees C growth conditions and showed that Hsc66 was induced, as well as hscA, 3 h after a cold shock. Growth of an hscA mutant following cold shock was monitored relative to that of an isogenic wild-type strain. While cold shock adaptation as a function of growth rate was not significantly impaired in an hscA mutant, the expression of at least five other proteins was altered in this mutant following cold shock. On the basis of the homology to Hsp70 proteins and the induction following cold shock, we speculate that Hsc66 functions as a cold shock molecular chaperone.