Heat shock proteins (Hsps) and other molecular chaperones perform diverse physiological roles. One is to facilitate, in part, organismal thermotolerance, of which the functional consequences depend on Hsp70 concentration and developmental stage in Drosophila melanogaster. To test whether an Hsp70-thermotolerance relationship is a general phenomenon within Drosophila, I assayed Hsp70 concentrati...

Yeast cells show an adaptive response to a mild heat shock, resulting in thermotolerance acquisition. This is accompanied by induction of heat-shock protein (hsp) synthesis and rapid accumulation of trehalose. Genetic approaches to determine the specific role of trehalose in heat-induced thermotolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been hampered by the finding that deletion of TPS1, the gen...

Invasive fungal infections, including cryptococcosis, are a growing threat to immunocompromised patients. Although Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are the main agents of human cryptococcosis, opportunistic infections by environmental species, such as C. liquefaciens, have been observed recently. The main Cryptococcus virulence factor is the production and secretion of polysaccha...

We studied adaptive thermotolerance in replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster artificially selected for high and low knockdown temperature (T(KD)), the upper temperature at which flies can no longer remain upright or locomote effectively. Responses to selection have generated High T(KD) populations capable of maintaining locomotor function at approximately 40 degrees C, and Low T(KD) ...

Temperatures around hydrothermal vents are highly variable, ranging from near freezing up to 300°C. Nevertheless, animals thrive around vents, some of which live near the known limits of animal thermotolerance. Paralvinella sulfincola, an extremely thermotolerant vent polychaete, and Paralvinella palmiformis, a cooler-adapted congener, are found along the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northwestern ...

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, accumulation of the non-reducing disaccharide trehalose is triggered by various stimuli that activate the heat-schock response. Several studies have shown a close correlation between trehalose levels and tolerance to heat stress, suggesting that trehalose may be a protectant which contributes to thermotolerance. In this study, we have examined mutants defe...

Thermotolerance is defined as the capacity of cells, following a cycle of stress and recovery, to survive a second stress which would otherwise be lethal. Whereas this is a well-documented phenomenon, the mechanisms underlying this protective event remain to be elucidated. Protection of protein synthesis appears to be one of the components in the induction of thermotolerance termed "translation...

The endosymbiosis between dinoflagellate algae of the genus Symbiodinium and stony corals provides the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. Coral bleaching, the expulsion of endosymbionts from the coral host tissue as a consequence of heat or light stress, poses a threat to reef ecosystem functioning on a global scale. Hence, a better understanding of the factors contributing to heat stress sus...

Synthesis of a family of proteins called "heat shock" proteins is induced or enhanced in cells in response to various environmental stresses, suggesting that these proteins may perform functions essential to cell survival. Because a brief, nonlethal heat treatment can dramatically induce a transient resistance to a subsequent lethal heat treatment (thermotolerance), we examined the effect of he...