The expression patterns of heat shock genes and proteins and their role during vertebrate's development

Highly evolutionary conserved heat shock proteins (HSPs) act as molecular chaperones in regulation of cellular homeostasis and promoting survival. Generally they are induced by a variety of stressors whose effect could be disastrous on the organism, but they are also widely constitutively expressed in the absence of stress. Varied HSP expressions seem to be very essential in the critical steps of embryonic and extra-embryonic structures formation and may correspond to cell movements, proliferation, morphogenesis and apoptosis, which occur during embryonic development. While our knowledge of detailed HSP expression patterns is in constant progress, their functions during embryonic development are not yet fully understood. In the paper, we review available data on HSP expression and discuss their role during vertebrate development. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.