Rapid Cold Hardening (RCH) is a mechanism allowing insects to quickly respond to low temperature. Survival from RCH has been attributed to a 2-3 fold increase in hemolymph glycerol concentration, but our recent data also implicates a role for the heat shock proteins (Hsps) as well. Wandering larvae of the flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis, were injected with dsRNA corresponding to regions of hsp23 and hsp70 transcripts and the flies were exposed as adults to either a direct cold shock or RCH followed by a cold shock. The capacity for RCH was greatly diminished when hsp 23 expression was reduced using RNAi. By contrast RNAi designed against hsp70 does not impair the RCH response. These results suggest a distinct role for Hsp23, but not Hsp70, in this low temperature response.
Species 1: Diptera Sarcophagidae Sarcophaga crassipalpis (flesh fly)
Keywords: cold shock, RNA interference
Back to Student Competition Display Presentations, Section B. Physiology, Biochemistry, Toxicology, and Molecular Biology
Back to Student Competition Posters
Back to The 2003 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition