Heat Shock Protein 70 Gene of Ya-Fish (Schizothorax Prenanti) Responses to Thermal Stress and Bacterial Challenges

The homeostasis of Ya-fish (Schizothorax prenanti) health may be affected by a wide variety of stressful stimuli from the complex aquatic environment. Heat shock proteins are extensively distributed and highly conserved in various animals, particularly Hsp70 which is a novel and potential biomarker for stressful environmental factors and disease conditions. The expression of SpHsp70 was detected to evaluate the potential use of SpHsp70 as a warning signal for some stimuli. In this study, freshwater Schizothorax prenanti were exposed to thermal stress and pathogenic bacteria in the aquatic environment. Results showed that SpHsp70 were ubiquitously and differentially expressed in nine examined organs/tissues. In Ya-fish, stessor-specific reactions were observed after different bacterial challenges. At the acute stage, SpHsp70 expression was significantly up-regulated in the kidney after Streptococcus agalactiae challenge, however SpHsp70 expression significantly increased in the spleen after Aeromonas hydrophila challenge. These reactions suggest that the response of SpHsp70 to bacterial stimuli depends on different stressors. Hence, thermal sensitivity and stressor-specificity precluded the simple use of SpHsp70 as warning information in S. prenanti.