Expression of Drosophila heat shock genes is regulated in Rat-cells

We have introduced a Drosophila 87A heat shock locus into the genome of Rat-1 cells. A brief heat shock of a resultant transformed line, Rhs11, induces the transcription of the Drosophila heat shock genes from the Drosophila heat shock promoter. This suggests that the induction mechanism and regulatory sequences for the heat shock response have been conserved between Drosophila and mammals.