title: Oligomerization, chaperone activity, and nuclear localization of p26, a small heat shock protein from Artemia franciscana.
abstract: Artemia franciscana embryos undergo encystment, developmental arrest and diapause, the last characterized by profound metabolic dormancy and extreme stress resistance. Encysted embryos contain an abundant small heat shock protein termed p26, a molecular chaperone that undoubtedly has an important role in development. To understand better the role of p26 in Artemia embryos, the structural and functional characteristics of full-length and truncated p26 expressed in Escherichia coli and COS-1 cells were determined. p26 chaperone activity declined with increasing truncation of the protein, and those deletions with the greatest adverse effect on protection of citrate synthase during thermal stress had the most influence on oligomerization. When produced in either prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells the p26 alpha-crystallin domain consisting of amino acid residues 61-152 existed predominantly as monomers, and p26 variants lacking the amino-terminal domain but with intact carboxyl-terminal extensions were mainly monomers and dimers. The amino terminus was, therefore, required for efficient dimer formation. Assembly of higher order oligomers was enhanced by the carboxyl-terminal extension, although removing the 10 carboxyl-terminal residues had relatively little effect on oligomerization and chaperoning. Full-length and carboxyl-terminal truncated p26 resided in the cytoplasm of transfected COS-1 cells; however, variants missing the complete amino-terminal domain and existing predominantly as monomers/dimers entered the nuclei. A mechanism whereby oligomer disassembly assisted entry of p26 into nuclei was suggested, this of importance because p26 translocates into Artemia embryo nuclei during development and stress. However, when examined in Artemia, the p26 oligomer size was unchanged under conditions that allowed movement into nuclei, suggesting a process more complex than just oligomer dissociation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Crack
authors.forename: Gillian L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Gass
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: MacRae
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001156:Artemia / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D019556:COS Cells; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000502:physiology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; C107632:p26 chaperone protein, Artemia franciscana