A Survey of Heat Shock Protein Length Variation Within and Between Species of Drosophila

Abstract

<p> Forty iso-females lines of Drosophila melanogaster were surveyed by SDS-PAGE for length polymorphisms in their heat shock proteins. None was observed. The 70K and 27K HSP's were further analyzed by peptide mapping using Staphylococcus aureas va protease, acid hydrolysis and chymotrypsin. Again, no variation was observed. </p> <p> Thirty-seven species of Drosophila were surveyed for length variation in their heat shock proteins by SDS-PAGE. No variation was observed in HSP84 or HSP70 among any of the species. HSP36 was shown to vary in mobility only, especially among species from different species groups. The small HSP's showed the greatest interspecies variation, especially in the Repleta and Virilis groups. This variation included mobility and band number differences. </p> <p> The results from the 36K HSP's were used to construct a Drosophila species group phylogeny. These groups, shown in descending order of age, are Saltans, Victoria, Melanogaster, Willistoni, Repleta, and Virilis. </p>