Identification of heat shock cognate protein 70 gene (Alhsc70) of Apolygus lucorum and its expression in response to different temperature and pesticide stresses

Heat shock cognate protein 70 (Hsc70) is a very important stress-resistance protein of insects against environmental stresses. We employed fluorescent real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western-blot techniques to analyze the transcriptional and translational expression profiles of AlHSC70 under extreme temperature (4 degrees C and 40 degrees C) or 4 pesticide stresses in Apolygus lucorum. The results showed that the expression of AlHSC70 were significantly induced by cyhalothrin or extremely high temperature (40 degrees C) in both transcriptional and translational levels (P < 0.05), while the transcriptional and translational level of AlHSC70 decreased significantly in treatments of chlorpyrifos or extreme cold temperature (4 degrees C) (P < 0.05). Moreover, after Apolygus lucorum treated by imidacloprid or emamectin benzoate, the expression of AlHSC70 was only up-regulated significantly at the transcriptional level (P < 0.05), although obviously up-regulated at the translational level of AlHSC70. Therefore, this study confirmed that the Alhsc70 gene played important roles in response to both temperature and pesticide stresses, especially for cyhalothrin or extremely high temperature (40 degrees C). In addition, the significant polynomial regression correlations between temperature and the Alhsc70 expression level were shown in all the nymph and adult stages (P < 0.01), indicating temperature was an important factor to affect the relative expression of Alhsc70.