Heat-Induced Changes in Thermosensitivity and Gene Expression during Development

The thermosensitivity of developing embryos of the fresh water snail Lymnaea stagnalis was investigated from the 4-cell stage to the 3-day-old trochophore larva by means of survival curves for 43.6°C. Cleavage stage embryos were extremely thermoresistant as compared with older stages, and thermosensitivity increases during the development.
Pretreatment with a mild heat exposure (10 min at 39°C) did not induce thermotolerance at the 4-cell stage, but it did so in the early gastrula and trochophora. Development of thermotolerance in 1-, 2-, and 3-day-old stages showed an identical kinetic pattern.
After incubation in ³⁵S-methionine one-dimensional gel electrophoresis was carried out with or without preheating. At the 4-cell stage no enhanced synthesis of heat shock proteins was induced by exposure to heat. At stages of 1 day and older heat induced the enhanced synthesis of the heat shock proteins with apparent molecular weights of 38, 65 and 70 kilodaltons. The synthesis of heat shock protein 70 changes during the early development of Lymnaea both in its constitutive level and in its ability to be enhanced by heat treatment.