Abstract
BACKGROUND: The heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is one kind of molecular chaperones, which plays a key role in protein metabolism under normal and stress conditions. METHODOLOGY: In the present study, the mRNA expressions of HSP70 under normal physiological condition and after acute heat stress were investigated in gills of two bay scallop populations (Argopecten irradians irradians and A. i. concentricus). The heat resistant scallops A. i. concentricus showed significantly lower basal level and higher induction of HSP70 compared with that of the heat sensitive scallops A. i. irradians. The promoter sequence of HSP70 gene from bay scallop (AiHSP70) was cloned and the polymorphisms within this region were investigated to analyze their association with heat tolerance. Totally 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, and four of them (-967, -480, -408 and -83) were associated with heat tolerance after HWE analysis and association analysis. Based on the result of linkage disequilibrium analysis, the in vitro transcriptional activities of AiHSP70 promoters with different genotype were further determined, and the results showed that promoter from A. i. concentricus exhibited higher transcriptional activity than that from A. i. irradians (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the thermal adaptation of different congener endemic bay scallops, which suggested that the increased heat tolerance of A. i. concentricus (compared with A. i. irradians) was associated with the higher expression of AiHSP70. Meanwhile, the -967 GG, -480 AA, -408 TT and -83 AG genotypes could be potential markers for scallop selection breeding with higher heat tolerance.