Trichomonas vaginalis: analysis of a heat-inducible member of the cytosolic heat-shock-protein 70 multigene family

A 2253-nucleotide (nt) transcript for a Trichomonas vaginalis heat-shock pr otein 70, TVCHSP70, has been isolated that encodes for a protein of 659 ami no acids with a predicted molecular weight of 71.3 kDa. TVCHSP70 has a shor t (10-nt) 5' untranslated region (UTR), and the 263-nt 3' UTR is the longes t reported for a Trichomonas peptide. Amino-acid sequence anal; sis and phy logenetic comparison identifies TVCHSP70 as a member of the heat-inducible cytoplasmic HSP70 gene family. Southern-blot data indicate that T. vaginali s contains at least four members of the cytoplasmic HSP70 gene Family. Memb ers of the TVCHSP70 family are expressed as 2.3-kb transcripts at low level s during 37 degrees C culture, and their expression is significantly up-reg ulated at 43 degrees C. Slot-blot analysis of seven T. vaginalis clinical i solates demonstrated a 3- to 44-fold up-regulation of TVCHSP70 under condit ions of heat shock (43 degrees C) or oxidative stress (500 mu m H2O2) as co mpared with controls (37 degrees C).