Pasteurella multocida produces heat shock proteins in turkeys

Pasteurella multocida produces an acute septicemic disease of turkeys. Since turkeys have a normal body temperature of 42 degrees C, it follows that P. multocida would produce heat shock proteins during the course of the infectious process. We show here that P. multocida produces several proteins at 42 degrees C, but not at 32 degrees C, and vice versa. Four of these proteins (70, 60, 40, and 35 kDa in molecular mass) were recognized by serum obtained from a turkey infected with P. multocida, suggesting that they were produced in vivo.