Meeting Abstract

108.1  Saturday, Jan. 7  Pitting the stress response against the immune response: changes in gene expression in the Texas Field Cricket (Gryllus texensis) EASY, Russell*; ADAMO, Shelley; Dalhousie University; Dalhousie University reasy@dal.ca

The immune response can damage as well as protect. Hsp90 is one of the most abundant proteins in animal cells and is involved in protein folding and cell signaling and is usually upregulated in response to stress. Nitric oxide (NO) is a signaling and effector molecule involved in the insect response to pathogen challenge. Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) is part of a class of enzymes involved in detoxification of oxidative stress products. The ability to survive an immune challenge may be directly dependant on changes in the relative amount of these proteins. Using real-time PCR we have shown upregulation of Hsp90 following heat stress however we also note a consistent downregulation of Hsp90 following acute and flying stress with a concomitant increase in GST and NO. This suggests a trade-off in gene activation in response to physiological stress. Future work will explore the phenotypic responses of these changes in gene regulation.