The small heat shock protein (sHSP) genes in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, and comparative analysis with other insect sHSP genes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are products of heat shock response and of other stress responses, and ubiquitous in all three domains of life, archaea, bacteria, and eukarya. They mainly function as molecular chaperones to protect proteins from being denatured in extreme conditions. Study on insect sHSPs could provide some insights into evolution of insects that have adapted to diverse niches in the world.

Results

Taking advantage of the newly assembled genome sequence, we performed a genome-wide analysis of the candidate sHSP genes in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Based on known silkworm sHSP sequences, we identified 16 silkworm sHSP genes. Most of them are distributed on two silkworm chromosomes 5 and 27, respectively. 15 of 16 silkworm sHSPs have expression evi

SUBMITTER: Li ZW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2745388 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature