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Updated: Aug 28, 2026
Standardized Methods for Measuring Induction of the Heat Shock Response in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: July 3, 2020
Revisiting the Small Heat Shock Protein Family in Caenorhabditis elegans: Insights from Phylogenetic, Structural, and
Rushali Kamath1, Prasad Kasturi1
1School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Mandi, HP, India.
Abstract:
Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are ATP-independent molecular chaperones with diverse cellular functions. Here, we systematically reassessed two subfamilies of sHSPs in C. elegans by integrating evolutionary, genomic, and biophysical analyses. We report analysis of 18 α-crystallin domain-containing sHSPs, including two previously uncharacterized HSP-16-like proteins (designated hsp-16.31 & hsp-16.32 ). This analysis also supports the inclusion of two other proteins, ZK1128.7 and Y55F3BR.6 , as additional members of the C. elegans sHSP family. Comparative analyses reveal substantial diversity in tissue expression, intrinsic disorder, and liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) propensity, highlighting extensive functional specialization within the family.
