title: Bioinformatics and protein expression analyses implicate LEA proteins in the drought response of Collembola.
abstract: Humidity has a large impact on the distribution and abundance of terrestrial invertebrates, but the molecular mechanisms governing drought resistance are not fully understood. Some attention has been given to the role of the heat shock response as a component of desiccation tolerance, but recent focus has been on the chaperone-like LEA (late embryogenesis abundant) proteins in anhydrobiotic animals. This study investigates the expression of putative LEA proteins as well as the heat shock protein Hsp70 during drought stress in soil and surface dwelling species of Collembola (springtails). In silico analysis of four EST candidates from two species of Collembola showed the presence of a Group 3 LEA protein in Megaphorura arctica. In common with other Group 3 LEA proteins, the new sequence is predicted to be 100% natively unfolded, with a strong degree of lysine and alanine periodicity and with a negative average hydrophobicity of -1.273. The sequence clusters with members of the Group 3 LEA in plants. Furthermore, cross-species Western blotting showed drought-induced expression of putative LEA proteins in six species of Collembola. In the surface dwelling species, Orchesella cincta, degree of dehydration and length of exposure correlated with level of putative LEA protein. Hsp70 was also found to increase in individuals of O. cincta and Folsomia candida that had been exposed to drought conditions for 6 days. These results show the presence of a LEA protein-coding region in Collembola, but also indicate that several proteins are involved in response to dehydration stress, including Hsp70.
authors.affiliation: Ecology and Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade, Buildg. 1540, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. simon.bahrndorff@biology.au.dk
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bahrndorff
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tunnacliffe
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wise
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McGee
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holmstrup
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Loeschcke
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D055864:Droughts; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; C066246:late embryogenesis abundant protein, plant