Meeting Abstract
In many organisms, relatively small changes to their body temperature can lead to thermal destabilization of proteins and lipids, which can affect major organ functions and possibly lead to death. In order to survive, endothermic animals actively and accurately regulate their body temperature, unlike many ectothermic animals, which are at the mercy of the environment. For ectotherms, one mechanism to cope with environmentally-induced changes in body temperature involves the expression of molecular chaperones known as heat shock proteins (HSPs), which can assist in the stabilization of damaged, unfolded proteins. In endothermic insects, such as the nocturnal hawkmoth, Manduca sexta, body temperature can vary dramatically on a daily basis, and differences between thoracic (reaching >40°C during hovering flight), and head and abdominal temperatures can be significant. However, it is currently unknown whether these insects initiate a heat shock response in response to highly variable body temperatures, nor how ambient temperature may affect this mechanism. Here we present, what is to our knowledge, the first data on the time series of M. sexta flight muscle and fat body heat shock response (i.e. expression of HSP70) to hovering flight at 22°C and 35°C ambient temperatures, and 45°C ambient temperature in the absence of flight.
