The Saccharomyces cerevisiae small heat shock protein Hsp26 inhibits actin polymerisation.

All cells display a response to adverse environmental conditions by inducing the synthesis of a set of proteins, the heat shock proteins (Hsps). Hsp26 belongs to the family of small heat shock proteins (sHsps). The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has three major sHsps: Hsp26 [I], Hspl2 [2] and Hsp30 [3]. Small Hsps have certain common structural and regulatory charactenstics; they are induced by heat shock and vanous developmental cues [4,6] they have the unusual ability to assemble into high molecular weight complexes termed Heat Shock Granules (HSGs)[5]; and they share significant homology in their carboxy termini portion around a hydrophobic region that contains the amino acid motif;